GLCANING5 IN ^ ^ 
MISSOURI HISTORY 




By MILLARD FILLMORE STIPES 






GLEANINGS 



IN 



MISSOURI HISTORY 



BY MILLARD FILLMORE STIPES 



PART I 

From Discovery to Statehood 



JAMESPORT, MO. 

PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR 

t904 



\- ^(0(0 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 

Two Copies Received 

JUL 1 1904 

CoKfflcM Entry 

CLAW ^ XXo, N<x 

L t ^ ^3 
COPY B 



Copyrighted, 1903, by M. F. Stipes. 



Semi-Weekly Gazette Press, 
Jamesport, Mo. 



To My Mother. 



PREFACE. 




T IS NOW just ten years since the author 
began to devote a large portion of his leisure 
hours (but few at best) to the study of the 
history of his native State; and it is almost 
four years since he began to transfer to paper 
the result cf this study. At the very outset 
he was impressed with the paucity of books 
pertaining to the theme, but he has gathered 
here and there until a goodly number graces 
his library shelves — as the list printed here- 
with testifies. But many of these are scarce or out of 
print, and only a few are available to the general reader. 

The writer has been impressed, too, with the fact that 
comparatively few residents of Missouri have even a cur- 
sory knowledge of the history of our commonwealth, yet no 
State in the Mississippi Valley presents a story of more in- 
tense interest. Until recently, no history of our State was 
ever seen in even the best of our schools. As works of 
reference, only one or two could be had. and even now there 
are upon the market only three works pertaining directly to 
the history of our great State. These facts prompted the 
writer to publish a series of newspaper articles upon the 
subject, which are reproduced (with some revision) in this 
little volume. 



VI PREFACE. 

In writing these chapters, two things — in addition to 
the general trend of the story — have been kept constantly 
in view: (1) to enrich the pages with such anecdotes and 
local incidents as came to the notice of the author; and (2) 
to present as completely as circumstances permitted, pict- 
ures of iife in the territory during the several periods. Th3 
most of the incidents related are authentic, but a few rest 
upon newspaper articles. 

While some errors of statement may have crept into 
these pages, the author, in every instance, has given that 
version which seemed to be borne out by the weight of au- 
thority. In many instances the authority is given in loco. 

In the preparation of these chapters, the writer is in- 
debted more or less to each of th-^ following works: 
Abbott's Life of De Soto. 

Barnes' Centenary History of the United States. 
Barrows' Oregon. 
Billon's Annals of St. Louis. 
Carr's Missouri. 

Davis and Durrie's History of Missouri. 
Drake's The Making of the Great West. 
Dye's The Conquest. 
Fiske's Discovery of America. 
Garrison's Texas. 
Gilman's Life of Monroe. 

Hosmer's Brief History of the Mississippi Valley. 
Hosmer's History of the Louisiana Purchase 
Howard's History of the Louisiana Purchase. 
Hermann's The Louisiana Purchase. 
Hough's The Way to the West. 
Journals of Lewis and Clark. 
Life of Daniel Boone. 
Lighton's Lewis and Clark. 
McMaster's History of the People of the United States. 



PREFACE. Vll 

Musick's Stories of Missouri. 

Morse's Life of Thomas Jefferson. 

Mather's The Making of Illinois. 

Old South Leaflets. 

Parkman's The Pioneers of France in the New World. 

Parkman's The Jesuits in North America, 

Parkman's La Salle and Discovery of the Great West. 

Parkman's A Half Century of Conflict. 

Parkman's Montcalm and Wolfe, 

Parkman's The Conspiracy of Pontiac. 

Peck's Annals of the West. 

Rader's School History of Missouri. 

Roosevelt's Winning of the West. 

Sabin's The Making of Iowa. 

Shea's Early Voyages Up and Down the Mississippi. 

State Papers of the Louisiana Purchase. 

Switzler's History of Missouri. 

Thompson's Alice of Old Vincennes. 

Thompson's The Story of Louisiana. 

Thwaites' Father Marquette. 

Watson's L'fe and Times of Thomas Jefferson. 

Wetmore's Out of a Fleur-de-Lis. 

Many Newspaper and Magazine Articles. 

A small edition of this book is published by the author. 
Some friends have asked if it would appear in permanent 
form. Whether it ever does, or whether it is ever brought 
on down to the present time', thus forming a complete his- 
tory of the State, depends entirely upon circumstances. 
Jamesport, Mo., May 18, 1904. M. F. S. 



CONTENTS. 



Pre-Historic Missouri, .... 

Indian Characteristics and Indians in Missouri, 
Discoveries and Explorations: 

De Soto, 

Marquette andjoliet. 

La Salle, 

Silver Hunters and Early Lead Miners. 

First Settlements, 

Cession of Louisiana and Settlement of St. Louis, 
Spanish Domination, ..... 
Attack on St. Louis and Other Events. 
Life Under the French and the Spanish Regimes, 
The Louisiana Purchnse: 

/. How America Was Induced to Buy, . 
II. Jefferson and Expansion, 

III. How Napoleon Was Induced to Sell, . 

IV. Napoleon's Quarrel With His Brothers, 
V. The Negotiations, .... 

VI. The Party Wrangle Over the Purchase, 
VII. Taking Possession, .... 
VIII. The Territory at the Time of the Purchase, 

IX. The Boundary Disputes, . 
The Expedition of Lewis and Clark. 
The New Madrid Earthquake. 
Daniel Boone in Missouri, . 
Indian Depredations and Attacks, 
Social and Business Life, 
Political Affairs, , 
The Missouri Compromise, . 
Missouri Becomes a State. . 



PACE 

9 
17 

25 
29 
37 
50 
56 
63 
72 
79 
87 

99 

106 
113 
120 
130 
139 
146 
155 
163 
171 
185 
194 
200 
210 
220 
223 
230 



GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 



PRE-HISTORIC MISSOURI. 



HE red men found within the present borders of 
Missouri, when for the first time the trans-Mis- 
sissippi region was entered by white men, were 
not the most ancient inhabitants of our common- 
wealth. It is a fact that in all lands wherever, in ages past, 
it has been possible for man to subsist, the earth is found 
thickly studded with the graves of vanished people. Baby- 
lonia, Egypt and Assyria furnish evidences of this truth, 
and the same may be said of America. Countless gener- 
ations have peopled certain regions and then passed off the 
scene, leaving no record of their occupation and works 
save a few surviving monuments and fragmentary remains 
of their handiwork. It is a singular fact that mounds of 
earth grassed over are the most enduring of the works of 
man. Buildings crumble into ruins and even their sites are 
forgotten, but grass-covered works, if untouched by human 
agency, will endure throughout the ages. 

To-day we sow and reap on the same spot where have 
lived innumerable hosts of pre-historlc peoples, for whom 
we have no name, and of whose history we shall forever 
remain in ignorance. As generations come and go, all tra- 
ces of former inhabitants are obliterated, save here and 



10 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

there a solitary footprint. We know that these people were 
the predecessors of the Indians, whom they far surpassed 
in their progress towards civilization. But whence came 
they, how long they abode in this bountiful land, and what 
was their ultimate fate, must remain matters of speculation. 
We believe that afterwards, in a more enlightened condi- 
tion, they found a home in the far Southwest, but of this 
we have no proof. The ancient pueblos of Arizona and the 
cave dwellings of the great Tonto Basin and other localities 
among the canyons and the all but inaccessible cliffs of the 
Rocky Mountains may have been the work of the descend- 
ants of that mighty host that once peopled the Mississippi 
Valley. Possibly the incursions of the fiercer tribes from 
the North and East forced them to relinquish their claim 
to that region which yields more abundantly than does the 
fertile valley of the Nile, and seek a refuge in the rock-hewn 
fastnesses of their mountain homes, whence, in the course 
of time, they were driven beyond the Rio Grande del Norte. 
There existed in Missouri at some period a people who, 
from choice or necessity, dwelt in caves; but whether these 
were the ancestors of the Cliff- Dwellers of Colorado and 
Arizona we have no means of ascertaining. 

Whatever other people may have inhabited this region, 
the evidences of the former existence of a pre-historic race, 
kno^n as the Mound Builders, who at one time occupied 
the Mississippi Valley, the Gulf Coast, and the regions of 
the Great Lakes, are too conclusive to admit of doubt. 
Hence it is not our purpose, in this connection, to present 
proofs of the existence of such a people, but shall give some 
attention to those evidences found within our own State 
which convince archasologists beyond the shadow of a doubt 
that these valleys and woodland once teemed with such a 
race. 

Who will tell the story of those times? Even back in 
the dim avenues of the mystic past, we are assured, the 



PRE-HISTORIC MISSOURI. 1 1 

ancient Mound Builders and Cave Dwellers inhabited this 
region contemporaneously with the unwieldy Mastodon and 
other huge animals of the Tertiary Epoch. Ruins of the 
handiwork of these people abound in Central and South- 
eastern Missouri. Their history doubtless was destroyed 
when the fanatical Cortez put the torch to the magnificent 
collections of picture-writing in the ancient city of Tenoch- 
titlan, thus inflicting upon civilization a greater loss than 
the destruction by the deluded followers of Mahomet of 
those ancient tomes in the lotus-land of the Nile. These 
pre-historic inhabitants of our soil succumbed to the inva- 
sions of the Gauls of America — the fiercer Indian tribes, 
who, in irresistable hordes, swept down from their fastness- 
es to the Northeast, driving the less hostile, but more pro- 
gressive. Mound Builders to the mountainous and unpro- 
ductive regions about the Rocky Mountains and beyond. 
The history of this conquest, and of the origin, migrations, 
conquests and defeats of these fierce Northern Vandals — 
thanks to the incendiary and iconoclastic Castilians — will 
forever be shrouded in mystery. 

That many ages have elapsed since man first inhab- 
ited the fertile valley of the Mississippi, ample proofs exist; 
and no State than Missouri has been more prolific in sup- 
plying such evidence. For the present purpose it will suf- 
fice to adduce a few instances of such proofs. 

In 1839 Dr. Koch, of St. Louis, discovered and disin- 
terred, in Gasconade county, the magnificent Mastodon 
skeleton which now forms so conspicuous a figure in the 
British Museum. With its discovery are connected some 
remarkable circumstances. The greater portion of the 
bones were more or less burned by fire. And that the fire 
had not been an accidental one, but had been kindled by 
human agency with the design of killing the huge creature 
which was evidently mired in the mud about a salt lick and 
in a helpless condition, there was evidence ample to con- 



12 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

vince the most skeptical. The bones not charred were 
found in an upright 'position in the clay, whilst the others 
were partially consumed by the fire; and the surface of the 
clay was covered as far as the fire had extended by a layer 
of wood-ashes mingled with pieces of charred wood and 
burned bones. 

The fire had been most destructive around the head 
of the animal, and where lay the bones of this portion of the 
skeleton were a large number of broken pieces of rock, ev- 
idently brought from the shore of the small river near by 
and hurled at the imprisoned animal by his destroyers. 
That the fire was kept up for some time is shown by the 
fact that the layer of ashes was from two to six inches in 
depth. Among the ashes were found arrow and spear 
heads and some stone axes.* 

Another Mastodon skeleton, found a year later in Ben- 
ton county by the same person, had evidently belonged to 
an animal killed by its human contemporaries. Two ar- 
row heads were found with the bones, one of them just be- 
neath the thigh bone and in contact with it, hence could not 
have been brought thither after the deposit of the bone as 
both were buried beneath a stratum of vegetable mold, 
tiventy feet in thickness. These bones and arrow heads 
were found in the Loess beds of the Post-Pliocene Epoch. 
Hence that our commonwealth was inhabited by primitive 
man at the time these huge and unwieldy mammals roamed 
over our fertile valleys and undulating prairies, no doubt 
exists. Geologists tell us that the Mastodon has long been 
extinct. 

*The little valley about the salt lick where Dr. Koch discov- 
ered this skeleton is a veritable graveyard of pre-historic monsters. 
In 1899 a gentleman from St. Louis leased a tract of ten acres and 
is now engaged in a systematic effort to uncover this great store- 
house of antiquity. Besides the bones of Mastodons, he finds those 
of several other extinct animals. The lick at one time was evi- 
dently surrounded by a quagmire. 



PRE-HISTORIC MISSOURI. 13 

In nearly all the counties of Central and Eastern Mis- 
souri are found conical elevations, known locally as "Indian 
Mounds." The site of St. Louis was originally so thickly 
studded with these ancient tumuli that the town acquired 
the title of "Mound City." On the Illinois side of the Mis- 
sissippi, a few miles to the East, was the great mound of 
Cahokia, rising in the form of a magnificent parallelogram, 
Its sides at the base being respectively 700 and 500 feet in 
♦ length, and the height of which was ninety feet. On the 
Southwest was a terrace 160 by 300 feet, reached by a 
graded way; and the summit was truncated, forming a plat- 
form 200 by 250 feet. From this platform rose a conical 
mound, which, on being explored, yielded human bones, 
funeral vases and various implements of stone. It is be- 
lieved that upon this platform was reared an imposing tem- 
ple, within the walls of which high priests celebrated mystic 
rights, while from the plain below the swarming multitudes 
gazed in mute adoration. It is probable, too, that at some 
period this great tumulus became the resting-place of the 
remains of some mighty ruler, after the manner in which 
the pyramids of the Nile received the sarcophagi of the 
Pharaohs. 

The great mound of the St. Louis group was thirty- 
five feet high. When it was removed (which unfortunately 
was done in 1869) there was found at a depth of twenty- 
five feet what was apparently a trench or grave four feet 
deep, eighteen feet broad and seventy feet long, In which 
had been deposited several human bodies, evidently of In- 
dividuals above the ordinary size. The heads were placed 
towards the East, and the skeletons occupied a reclining 
posture. Patches of cloth of a coarse texture and more or 
less carbonized; two copper vessels, shaped like spoon- 
bowls: a quantity of beads which had evidently been strung 
and wound about the neck and head of the recumbent war- 
rior; and a quantity of small sea shells, were found. 



14 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

From Missouri have come some of the best relics, in 
clay and in copper and in stone, of the Mound Builders. In 
Perry county some water-coolers, eight inches in height, 
and made of unglazed pottery, were taken from an ancient 
cemetery where they had been placed at the head of a 
corpse. Near Belmont, in Southeast Missouri, were found 
water-jugs, the tops of which presented a fair delineation of 
the human head. In the same locality were found human 
figures in the form of statues. Others have been found in 
Perry county. Some of these show considerable artistic 
skill. A water jug with supporting feet, and a drinking cup, 
the handle of which is surmounted by a female head, were 
found in the same county. 

How far these ancient inhabitants of our State had 
progressed towards civilization can only be surmised from 
the discovered remains. In the Southeastern counties are 
evidences which go to prove that great numbers of agricul- 
tural folk once densely populated that locality. Not only 
did they till the soil, but in the river valleys and bottoms 
they drained large tracts of land by elevating a portion of 
it, thereby fitting the elevated parts for tillage. They con- 
structed canals by which they were able to connect their 
inland towns with the Mississippi, indicating that to some 
extent at least they must have been a commercial people. 
They buried their dead in stone vaults, and placed with the 
bodies highly ornamented and skillfully wrought pottery. 
They shaped the hardest porphyry and greenstone into axes 
and other implements. They mined copper, and from this 
metal cast implements used in war, in hunting, and in the 
useful arts. Their old pits in the Lake Superior copper re- 
gions are known as the "ancient diggings." In one of them 
was found a mass of metal which weighed forty-six tons. 
The block had been separated from the original and the 
surface pounded smooth. About it lay an abundance of 



PRE-HISTORIC MISSOURI. 15 

stone hammers, copper chisels and wedges, as though but 
yesterday the workmen had departed. 

As to the age of these ancient earth works, suffice it 
to say that on their crests the tallest forest trees are grow- 
ing. On one at Marietta, Ohio, are trees that have seen 
at least eight centuries. Another near Little Rock, Arkan- 
sas, is crowned with a magnificent elm which has stood 
the storms of four hundred years. And yet the mounds 
must be older than the trees by which they are surmounted. 

"A people that long has passed away 
Built them; a disciplined and populous race 
Heaped with long toil the earth, while yet the Greek 
Was hewing the Pentelicus to forms 
Of symmetry, and rearing on its rock 
The glittering Parthenon." — "Bryant. 

Thus amplc^vidences exist that in some former age 
there lived in Missouri a people who, in their strides to- 
wards civilization, far surpassed the Indians. 

Who these Mound Builders were will never be known. 
That they were a people who had made considerable ad- 
vancement in the manual arts is shown by the relics dis- 
covered in our own State. That they made a desperate 
stand against the encroachments of the more warlike 
Northern barbarians is shown by the remains of forts and 
other defensive earth-works in parts of Ohio, Illinois, Wis- 
consin and Missouri. ^ "One can but speculate on the fear- 
ful struggle which apparently forced this people to leave 
their fortified villages and cultivated fields, and to hew for 
themselves asylums in the rock; the long months and years 
during which they continued the contest in their mountain 
fortresses; the details of this final death-struggle; and when 
and how the last of this host yielded and was blotted out of 
existence."* 

* Barnes' Popular History of the United States. 



16 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

Near the childhood home of the writer, in Saline coun- 
ty, are the ruins of a fort believed to have been erected by 
these people.* It stood on a commanding hill, the declivi- 
ties of which furnish ample evidence that this was once the 
scene of a sanguinary conflict. Flint arrow and spear 
heads, polished axes cut from greenstone or porphyry, cov- 
ered the ground when first trod by white men, and even yet 
the ploughshare occasionally turns up something fashioned 
by these ancient people. A few years ago the writer passed 
over the site of this fort, and the feeling that swept across 
his mind as he viewed the scene and speculated as to what 
manner of people were they who surged back and forth about 
that hill crowned with primitive fortifications, as the tide of 
battle ebbed and flowed, were akin to those he experienced 
when, standing on the hill once defended by the British bat- 
tery at Lundy's Lane, he looked down the slope whence, in 
the early hours of night, again and again charged the invin- 
cible Americans. The history and characteristics of these 
primeval people we know not, but doubtless with that ener- 
gy and courage born of despair did they defend their homes 
against the ruthless invaders. Slowly, but too surely, they 
gave way before their fiercer enemies, contesting valiantly 
every foot of their beloved land, until finally they were driv- 
to Mexico and Central America, where their works at Ux- 
mal, Palenque and Copan, magnificent even in their ruins, 
bear testimony to the achievements within the possibilities 
of the original inhabitants of this fertile valley, 

* It it possible, however, as believed by some writers, tiiat 
ttiese are tlic ruins of Fort Orleans, built by De Bourgmont. Of 
this we shall speak hereafter. 



INDIAN CHARACTERISTICS. 17 



INDIAN CHARACTERISTICS AND INDIANS IN 
MISSOURI. 



HE INDIAN is the true child of the forest, and 
no association with the Caucasian will ever wean 
him from the arms of his earth-mother. Sub- 
sisting chiefly by the hunt, the tribes, at the ad- 
vent of Europeans, were widely and thinly scattered. No 
allegiance was held to any higher power than the tribal 
chieftain, and even to him obedience was subservient to the 
whim of the individual. When the war sachem, for civic 
or individual reasons, determined upon an expedition against 
some neighboring tribe, it was left to each warrior to decide 
whether or not he would espouse the cause of his chieftain. 
If the eloquence of the latter was successful in arousing the 
martial ardor of the warrior, he signified his willingness to 
accompany the projected expedition by striking his toma- 
hawk deep into the sapling already containing that of the 
chief; otherwise with immovable features he sat in gloomy 
silence and gazed upon the belligerent preparations of his 
brothers. 

To the red aborigine the trackless forest was an open 
book. No compass needed he to guide him through its 
most intricate depths. Living by stealth, the woods were 
more to his liking than the broad, undulating prairie. He 



18 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

preferred that all his movements should be under cover. 
At no V time wsls he in absolute safety, even though at peace 
with neighboring tribes. Depredatory bands roamed abroad, 
and at what moment the fierce war-whoops of one of these 
would startle his village no warrior knew. 

For the last hundred and thirty-seven years — or since 
the close of French domination in the New World — the red 
aborigines have slowly receded before the steadily advan- 
cing wave of Anglo-Saxon power. During that period this 
wave, unchecked and well-nigh unopposed, has ever rolled 
to the West. Had Montcalm, on the Plains of Abraham, 
not surged in vain against the solid phalanx of Wolfe's 
prowess, the tenure of Indian supremacy in the vast Mis- 
sissippi Valley may have been immeasurably prolonged, 
because it was the policy of the French to Catholicize the 
Indians and make respectable citizens of them (though in- 
different success attended their efforts), rather than to dis- 
possess them of their lands. But the result of that brilliant 
engagement between the fleur-de-lis and the cross of Saint 
George stamped "Finis" after the sanguinary history of the 
red man in this section; and even Pontiac, than whom a more 
redoubtable or more sagacious sachem the forests of Amer- 
ica never produced, was unable to avert the doom that 
overshadowed him. 

The Indian was a barbarian. His condition was that 
designated in geology as the Stone Age of man. His weap- 
ons and implements were made of that material. In the 
arts he had progressed no farther than to fashion his flint 
arrow heads and hatchets, to build rude wigwams, to shape 
bark canoes, and to make tight baskets in which his soup 
was boiled. He had no domestic animals, no beast of bur- 
den. While the forests and prairies where he roamed in 
search of food or in pursuit of his enemies hid vast deposits 
of the useful and the precious metals, to him they were val- 
ueless. Labor he considered as degrading, and while he 



INDIAN CHARACTERISTICS. 19 

hunted, or fished, or awakened the echoes of the surround- 
ing forests with his blood-chilling war-whoop, his squaw hoed 
his corn, dressed skins for his clothes, and built his wig- 
wam. She cooked his food by dropping hot stones into 
a tight basket containing materials for soup. The leavings 
of her lord's table sufficed her for food, and she had to be 
content with the coldest corner of his wigwam. She car- 
ried his burdens when on the march; or. as Champlain 
tersely states it. "served as his mule." The members of 
most tribes spent the winter evenings in smoking, at games 
(the Indian was an inveterate gambler*), or in coarse and 
idle conversation, for many of them seem to have been of 
a congenial disposition. When alone with his family, and 
sometimes on other occasions, the warrior would for days 
sit upon the ground in stupid silence; but oftentimes a party 
of them would be wildly hilarious. And he was the very 
acme of hospitality. While he was an inordinate beggar 
from other people, with his own he would share his last 
morsel of food. No petitioner went hungry so long as he 
had ought to give. 

The word of the Indian was no protection. If it suited 
his purpose, he never hesitated to break his most solemn 
pledge or violate a treaty. He was crafty and cruel. He 
fought by strategem and rarely in the open field. That vic- 
tory was prized most which was purchased at the cost of 
no warrior's life. His powers of endurance were remark- 
able. He could go for days without food, or subsist upon 
that which other people discarded. No winter was so se- 
vere as to debar him from the chase or the warpath.f 

*He would wager anything he possessed— his clothes, his 
weapons, his wife. "Brebeuf states that once, in mid-winter, with 
the snow nearly three feet deep, the men of his village returned 
from a gambling visit, bereft of their leggins and barefoot, yet in 
excellent liumor."— Parkman's Jesuits in North America. 

f In relating the experience of Champlain at Hochelaga (Que- 
bec), Parkman says: "The rocks, the shores, the pine trees, the sol- 



20 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

The wigwam was of bark resting on poles. An open- 
ing at the top sufficed to let in the light and to let out the 
smoke. The fire was built on the ground in the center. 
As the game of one locality was exhausted, the wigwams 
would be moved to another. Some tribes, notably the Iro- 
quois, built larger dwellings, sometimes one or two hundred 
feet in length. One of these served as the abode of many 
families. Down the center the fires were built. There were 
no partitions, hence no privacy. The stranger was privi- 
leged to enter at any hour of the day or night. Sometimes 
a raised platform along either side of the building served as 
a place to sleep. Festoons of dried corn, dried venison and 
various other articles of food, as well as wearing apparel, 
hung from the poles that supported the roof. Filth and dirt 
were everywhere, while every hut was alive with fleas and 
other vermin. Says Francis Parkman, the great student 
of Indian life: "A person entering one of these wigwams on 
a winter's evening might have beheld a strange spectacle; 
the vista of fires lighting the smoky concave; the bronzed 
group encircling each — cooking, eating, gambling, or amus- 
ing themselves with idle badinage; wrinkled squaws, hideous 
with three-score years of hardship; grizzled old warriors, 
scarred with war-club and tomahawk; young aspirants, whose 
honors were yet to be won; damsels gay \vith ochre and 
wampum; and restless children, pell-mell with restless dogs. 
Now a tongue of resinous flame painted each wild feature 
in vivid light; now the fitful gleam expired, and the group 
vanished from sight as the nation has from history. "J 

Perhaps on the morrow the scene would be changed. 
The exultant whoop of the victorious party, returning with 

id floor of tiie frozen river, all alike were blanketed with snow. 
The drifts rose above the sides of their ships. Yet in the bitterest 
weather, the neighboring Indians, hardy as so many beasts, came 
daily to the fort, wading, half naked, waist-deep through the snow.'' 
— Pioneers of France in the New World. 
X Parkman's Jesuits in North America. 



INDIAN CHARACTERISTICS. 21 

captives in its train, would resound through the village; the 
terrible scene of torture, in which every infliction that sav- 
age ingenuity can conceive, would ensue; followed by the 
burning of the victim at the stake. Over these horrible de- 
tails it is best to draw the veil. 

With most tribes, female life had no bright side. It 
was a youth of license, an age of drudgery. Marriage ex- 
isted among all the nations, and polygam.y was rare. Di- 
vorce took place at the whim or caprice of either party. 
They married young, the boys at eighteen and the girls at 
thirteen or fourteen. In some tribes a practice of tempo- 
rary marriage for a day cr a week or longer prevailed: The 
ceremony was simple — merely the acceptance on the part 
of the female of wampum or some other article of value off- 
ered her by a brave. Sometimes a comely damsel boasted 
of as many as twenty such marriages before she was finally 
settled in life. 

Many nations also practiced temporary burial. The 
bodies of the newly-dead would be put on a high scaffold or 
in the top of a tree or in a shallow grave, or sometimes the 
bones, stripped of all fiesh, would be kept in the wigwam, 
until an appointed time (usually once in five or six years) 
when each family would collect the rem.ains of all its dead, 
tenderly wrapping each skeleton in a bundle, and carry them 
to a designated spot where, with tedious and mystic cere- 
monies and unprecedented lamentation, all the bones would 
be consigned to one common grave. 

Left to his own resources, the American lndi?.n is singu- 
larly unprogressive. Had not the advent of the pale face 
marked an epoch in his career, he would to-day be no far- 
ther advanced than the Stone Age, using the same weapons 
his forefathers used hundreds of years prior to the landing 
of Columbus, and eking out the same miserable existence. 
Civilization sounds the death-knell of these people, and ere 



22 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

many decades a full-blooded American Indian will be an 
object of curiosity. 

Of the Indians who dwelt within the present confines of 
Missouri, we have little reliable information. Indeed it is 
probable that our State was never at any time more then 
the transitory home of roving tribes. The Illinois, at the 
time of the first explorers, lived within the boundaries of the 
present State bearing their name; to the East, on the ver- 
dant banks of the Wabash, dwelt the Miamis, some of whom 
about this time inhabited a portion of Missouri; while to the 
North and West were the fierce, bison-chasing Dakotas. 

Missouri was a broad expanse of wilderness, shaggy with 
primeval woods and rolling prairie. Hundreds of streams 
traversed her wide area; scores of lakes glimmered in the 
fiery sunsets; numerous mountains and hills bared their 
rocky crests to the wind. These wastes were the home of 
the red savage. Through dense forests and over boundless 
plains roamed the tribes of the Mississippi Valley, — the Ill- 
inois, the Missouris, the Miamis, the Peorias, the Hurons, 
the Wyandots, the Osages. the Outagamies, the Sioux, the 
Winnebagoes, the Sacs, the Chickasaws, the Kansas, the 
Pawnees, the Arkansas, the Quapaws, and the lowas. Nur- 
tured in the forest and schooled in its subtle craft, they were 
unexcelled woodsmen. No enemy could steal upon Ihem 
unawares. The wild mazes of the densest forest they 
threaded as easily and as unerringly as- the villager finds his 
way about his native environs. No training of the white 
man in woodcraft could make him the peer of his red com- 
petitor. The latter followed the trail of friend or foe as un- 
erringly as the truest bloodhound. Show him one end of 
it, and it was no idle boast of his that he would find what 
was at the other, no matter what manner of hill or water or 
morass intervened. The craftiest or most cunning foe 
failed to baffle him or throw him off the trail. 

In the virgin solitude of Missouri, the Indian was mon- 



INDIAN CHARACTERISTICS. 23 

arch of all he surveyed. Save the bear and the bison, there 
was none to dispute his right. In the pursuit of foe or game, 
he made his way through the densest thickets so silently 
that not the snapping of a twig betrayed his passage; and so 
cunningly he hid his tracks that none save those as well 
versed in woodcraft as himself would ever suspect his pres- 
ence. A realm of forest, ancient as the world itself, creep- 
ing around inaccessible heights, shading rivulet and water- 
fall, crowning crags and hills and rocky steeps, surrounded 
him. In glimpses only, through jagged boughs and flicker- 
ing leaves, did the wild primeval world reveal itself. Or, 
seated in his light canoe he would stem the swiftest current, 
or glide over the pellucid waters of the tranquil lake so deft- 
ly that not a ripple would appear in his wake. Depending 
principally upon the flesh of wild animals for his food, he 
became the most expert of hunters; and until the game of 
the locality was exhausted, rarely did his family want for 
sustenance. The greater part of his days were spent in the 
chase or on the warpath. But he was singularly improvi- 
dent. Little provision did he make for the morrow. With 
him each day cared for itself. 

Poet and novelist have combined to cast a halo over 
the red aborigine, but a dispassionate study of him shows 
a rare combination of characteristics diametrically opposed 
to one another. In him were strangely exemplified courage 
and cowardice, cunning and stupidity, cruelty and kindness, 
generosity and cupidity, arrogance and subserviency, love 
and hatred. At the stake he would endure the most excru- 
tiating torture with the sublimest fortitude; and with his ex- 
piring breath taunt his enemies with their puny attempts at 
torture as compared with those he himself had inflicted up- 
on their tribesmen. The women evinced as much fortitude 
in suffering and as much cruelty in inflicting pain as did 
the braves. 

For a long period the Indians regarded the European 



24 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

as some mystical and superior being. His firearms and 
blade of Damascus steel struck terror to the hearts of the 
simple children of the forest. But after a time the halo of 
mystery was penetrated, the habits of the pale face were 
learned, and the dread of his charms and the fear of his 
deadly thunderbolts wore away. They even became experts 
in the use of the rifle. But as it is the principle of sav- 
age warfare to win by crafty device, by sudden surprise, and 
by unlooked-for perfidy, and to strike terror by ferocious 
cruelty, the addition of firearms to the weapons of the abo- 
rigine did not change the dominant characteristics of his 
savage nature. 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. 25 




DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. 

DE SOTO. 

HILE the first settlements within the present 
limits of Missouri were made by the French, 
to the subjects of another nation belongs the 
honor of first entering Its borders. This hon- 
or, If such It may be called, was but an incident In a mad 
scramble for gold by a party of buccaneers under the lead- 
ership of Ferdinand de Soto, a Spaniard who had won some 
slight renown In the part he took In the conquest of Peru 
by Pizarro, and who hoped to find In the New World "a 
second Mexico with Its royal palace and sacred pyramids, 
or another Cuzco with its Temple of the Sun enriched with 
a frieze of gold," Obtaining the consent of his emperor, 
Charles V, and the title of Adalantado, he set sail from San 
Lucar in April, 1538. He stopped first at Santiago de Cu- 
ba (recently made famous by the great naval victory won 
by the Americans off its harbor on July 3. 1898), and then 
proceeded to Havana, where his command was reorganized. 
On the 25th of May, 1539. with one thousand men thor- 
oughly larmed and equipped — cavaliers gay with helmet and 
cuirass and dancing plumes, — together with three hundred 
and fifty horses, he landed at Tampa Bay, on the coast of 
Florida, and shortly afterwards began that memorable march 
Into an unknown wilderness, peopled, for the most part, by 



26 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

fierce tribes (whose ire had already been kindled by the 
depredations of De Narvaez), in a wild search for gold, ti- 
dings of the existence of which in the region to the North- 
west had for a generation floated to Spanish ears. It was 
indeed a glittering pageant that threaded the fastnesses of 
our Southern borders. 

With the adventures of these Spanish East of the Mis- 
sissippi, we are not concerned in this narrative; though his- 
torians relate a very interesting incident in which a beauti- 
tiful young Indian queen figures. Their march was one 
continuous conflict with the natives. In nearly every en- 
counter the Spaniards were the victors. 

One day in the month of April, 1541 (nearly two years 
after their search for gold began), the great Mississippi, 
rolling between banks a mile and a half apart, burst majes- 
tically upon the view of the astonished Spaniards.* Its 
shores were inhabited by a tribe of Indians who at first 
seemed averse to the peaceful reception of De Soto and his 
adventurers, but the Spaniards succeeded in negotiating a 
peace. In this place De Soto remained twenty days, build- 
ing four barges in which to cross the broad stream; for he 
was assured that the Eldorado which for two years had per- 
sistently eluded his grasp lay just beyond. The farther bank 
seemed to be alive with natives, and several warlike dem- 
onstrations were made against De Soto's force. When the 
barges were completed, they were one night quietly manned 
with select crews, who, to their surprise, met with no oppo- 
sition on reaching the farther shore, nor was a native to 
be seen. 

The five hundred Spanish adventurers (for to that 
number had the party diminished) were safely transported 

*The picture of this event may be seen in the capitol at 
Washington, with De Soto in his bright, new armor, seated on a 
horse as fat and smooth as if he had just been led out of a livery 
stable instead of having come through seven days' journey in for- 
est and swamp since the last rest. (Noble L. Prentiss.) 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. 27 

to the Western shore. It is believed that this crossing was 
effected at what are now known as the lower Chickasaw 
Bluffs. The march to the North and West was begun, and 
on the fifth day an Indian village of about a hunded houses, 
situated on a stream believed to be the St. Francois, was 
reached. The natives were friendly, and soon the chief 
town of the province, some twenty miles up the Mississippi, 
came into view. This is believed to have been situated in 
the region now called Little Prairie, not far from New Mad- 
rid, in Missouri, Soon the Spaniards were domiciled in 
the village and harmony reigned supreme. 

"It was now the month of May. The weather was in- 
tensely hot, and the rustic bowers were found to be refresh- 
ingly cool and grateful. The name of this friendly chief 
was Casquin. Here the army remained for three days, 
without a ripple of unfriendly feeling arising between the 
Spaniards and the natives. It was a season of unusual 
drouth in the country, and on the fourth day the following 
extraordinary incident occurred: 

"Casquin, accompanied by quite an imposing retinue 
of his most distinguished men, came into the presence of 
De Soto, and stepping forward with great solemnity of man- 
ner, said to him: 

" 'Senor. as you are superior to us in prowess and sur- 
pass us in arms, we likewise believe that your God is better 
than our God. These you behold before you are the chief 
warriors of my dominions. We supplicate you to pray to 
your God to send us rain, for our fields are parched for the 
want of water.' 

"De Soto, who was a reflective man, of pensive tem- 
perament and devoutly inclined, responded: 

" 'We are all alike sinners, but we will pray to God, 
the Father of mercies, to show his kindness unto you.' 

"He then ordered the carpenter to cut down one of the 
tallest pines in the vicinity. It was carefully trimmed and 



28 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

formed into a perfect, but gigantic cross. Its dimensions 
were such that it required the strength of one hundred men 
to raise and plant it in the ground. Two days were em- 
ployed in this operation. The cross stood on the Western 
bank of the Mississippi. The next morning after it was 
reared, the whole Spanish army was called out to celebrate 
the erection of the cross by a solemn religious procession. 
A large number of the natives, with apparent devoutness, 
joined in the festival. 

"Casquin and De Soto took the lead, walking side by 
side. The Spanish soldiers and the native warriors, com- 
posing a procession of more than a thousand persons, 
walked harmoniously along as brothers, to commemorate 
the erection of the cross — the symbol of the Christian's 
faith. The priests, for there were several in the army, 
chanted their Christian hymns, and offered fervent prayers. 
The Mississippi at this point is not very wide, and it is said 
that upon the opposite bank twenty thousand natives were 
assembled, watching with intense interest the imposing cer- 
emony, and apparently, at times, taking part in the exercises. 
When the priests raised their hands in prayer, they, too, ex- 
tended their arms and raised their eyes, as if imploring the 
aid of the God of heaven and earth. 

"Occasionally a low moan was heard wafted across the 
river — a wailing cry, as if woe-stricken children were im- 
ploring the aid of an Almighty Father. The spirit of De 
Soto was deeply moved to tenderness and sympathy as he 
witnessed this benighted people paying such homage to the 
emblem of man's redemption. After several prayers were 
offered, the whole procession, slowly advancing two by two,^ 
knelt before the cross, as in brief ejaculatory prayer, and 
kissed it. All then returned with the same solemnity to the 
village, the priests chanting the grand anthem, Te Deum 
Laudamus."* 

* Abbott's Ferdinand de Soto, XVII. 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. 29 

We have given the above quotation as one of interest, 
describing as it does the first rite solemnized by white peo- 
ple within the presents limits of the State of Missouri. Las 
Casas, the great Spanish historian, adds that in the middle 
of the ensuing night the heavens sent down a plenteous rain. 

The discoveries of De Soto came to naught. After 
wandering a few months in Arkansas and spending the win- 
ter of 1541-42 in the region West of the Ozarks,"* he re- 
traced his steps and again encamped upon the banks of the 
great river he had discovered. Here a fever attacked him. 
It resulted fatally, and his despairing followers, chanting over 
his remains the first requiem ever heard in that region, 
sank his body, in the stillness of the night, beneath the wa- 
ters of the Mississippi.! "He had crossed half the conti- 
nent," says Bancroft, "and found nothing to remarkable as 
his burial place." Down the muddy current of the mighty 
stream the survivors of the ill-starred expedition, under the 
command of Moscoso who succeeded De Soto, fled from 
the Eldorado of their dreams, now transformed Into a wil- 
derness of misery and death. Few of them ever lived to 
again see Spain. To this discovery Is due the foundation 
of the claim, maintained for a long period, that the Missis- 
sippi was a Spanish river. 



MARQUETTE AND JOLIET, 



After the discovery of the Mississippi by De Soto, 
one hundred and thirty-two years — what seems to us an In- 
credible period — elapsed before white men again looked up- 
on its waters. During this time the English had made nu- 

♦in Vernqn County, Missouri, it is believed by many. 

fDe Soto died at a point below the mouth of the Arkansas, 
some writers claim near the mouth of the Red. After his death 
the survivors, under Moscoso, made one more march into the 
Western region in search of gold. But they found only disaster 
and death. Then it was that they fled down the rtver. 



30 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

merous settlements along the Atlantic coast, but had not 
pushed their explorations far West of the Alleghanies. To 
the French belong the honor of the re-discovery of the 
great river, of tracing its course, exploring its basin, and 
making therein the earliest settlements. Cartier and Cham- 
plain had explored the icy regions about the mouth of the 
St. Lawrence, Settlements were made at Port Royal 
(1605) and at Quebec (1608). From these feeble begin- 
nings the French, urged by the zeal of RecoUet and Jesuit 
priests, had slowly pushed their way to the region about the 
great lakes. To the unflagging energy of these priests, and 
to their indomitable Catholic ardor, are due the explora- 
tions of the Mississippi Valley. It was their hope to con- 
vert the Indians to their faith. They established missions 
among the Hurons, who dwelt on the shores of the lake 
bearing their name. The Jesuits founded missions on both 
the East and the West shores of Lake Michigan. They 
were tortured and mutilated and tomahawked and burned 
and eaten by the savages,* but as one fell out of the ranks, 
another sprang forward to take his place. In their efforts 
to explore the regions about the great lakes and the Missis- 
sippi Basin, the Jesuits were ably seconded by the French 
trappers or voyageurs. These children of nature, wild and 
uncouth as the Indians themselves, took readily to savage 
life. Their habits, free and easy manners, vivacity and rov- 
ing disposition well fitted them for assimilating with the na- 
tives. They had no regular abode. They lived, for the 
most part, with the Indians, adopted their dress and mode 
of living, and married into their families. These were fur- 
traders, and to their zeal and that of the Jesuits the French 
are indebted for their early acquaintance with all this re- 

* While none of the Indians of the United States were addicted 
to cannibalism, it was the custom of many tribes —notably the 
Iroquois, Hurons, Neutrals, Eries, Peorias and others— to feast on 
the bodies of prisoners, in the belief that the flesh of a brave ene- 
my would transmit his virtues to themselves. 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. 31 

gion. Hand in hand went priest and voyageur, wherever 
there was a promise of commercial or spiritual harvest. 
By their aptitude in assimilating with the savages and their 
adroitness in winning the confidence of the red man, they 
gained a paramount ascendency over both English and 
Spanish competitors. Many of the names borne by towns 
and localities in the region about the great lakes bear testi- 
mony to the early French occupancy. 

To the Jesuits about Lakes Superior and Michigan 
came tidings now and then of a mighty river in the far 
West, and they longed to test the truthfulness of these In- 
dian reports. As early as 1639. only about thirty years af- 
ter Quebec was settled, Nicollet was upon the Wisconsin 
and within three days' travel of the Mississippi — or as it 
was then thought, the ocean. By 1671 the French had 
completed the circuit of Lake Superior, and Talon, the in- 
tendant, resolved to find the great river, selected Louis Jol- 
iet as a suitable person for the enterprise, But before his 
plans were matured, Frontenac succeeded Courcelle as gov- 
ernor of Canada, and Talon's career was at an end. But 
the new governor took up the matter and, influenced by the 
Jesuits, the selection of Joliet was endorsed. 

In the meantime Father Marquette, in the "Relation 
of 1670," reports that the Illinois had told him of this mys- 
terious river, and at his distant station at the Western ex- 
tremity of Lake Superior was planning to visit the nations 
that dwelt upon its banks. But an attack by the Sioux 
broke up the station at St. Esprit and forced his Huron 
friends to retrace their steps towards the East. Coming to 
the Straits of Michilimackinac and being pleased with the 
prospects thereabouts, the Hurons decided to locate there 
and fortify themselves. Marquette built a log chapel and 
founded the mission of St. Ignatius. There, at the end of 
two years, Joliet found him, ripe for the projected expedi- 
tion in quest of the Mississippi. , 



32 CLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

Jacques Marquette came from a patrician family in 
the beautiful old cathedral city of Laon, in Northern France, 
and was now thirty-five years of age. He had become a 
Jesuit at seventeen, and in 1666 had been sent to the mis- 
sions of Canada. Two years later he had been assigned to 
the upper lake region, which had since been his field of la- 
bor. It is clear that he possessed remarkable talents as a 
linguist, for it is told of him that in a few years he became 
proficient in the use of six Indian languages. He was a 
zealot in a Christian sect remarkable for its zeal. Park- 
man writes of him, "The longing of a sensitive heart, di- 
vorced from earth, sought solace in the skies." Joliet was 
the son of a wagon-maker in the service of the company 
which owned Canada. He was born at Quebec in 1645. 
He had been educated by the Jesuits, and received the ton- 
sure and minor orders when only seventeen; but a few years 
later he renounced his clerical vocation and turned fur- 
trader. Some time previously he had been sent by Talon 
to explore the copper mines of Lake Superior. "He appears 
to have been simply a merchant, intelligent, well educated, 
courageous, hardy, and enterprising." 

At Michilimackinac (now known as Mackinac), these 
two men spent some weeks in obtaining all information pos- 
sible concerning their trip into the unknown, for they were 
determined that the enterprise "should not be foolhardy." 
They even, from the descriptions given by the Indians, con- 
structed a rude map of the region to the West and South, 
and traced thereon the route they purposed taking. Their 
outfit was simple. It consisted of two birch-bark canoes 
and a quantity of smoked meat and Indian corn. Five men 
were engaged to accompany them. On the 17th of May, 
1673, the perilous undertaking was begun. Westward lay 
their course, and soon they were skirting the Northern shore 
of Lake Michigan. The Indians of the Menomonie or 
Wild-rice village where the explorers stopped were aston- 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. 33 

Ished when told the object of the voyage, and endeavored 
to dissuade the white men from a venture fraught with such 
deadly perils. The banks of the Mississippi, they said, were 
peopled with ferocious tribes who tomahawked all strangers 
without cause or provocation; in a certain part of the river 
was a demon who would engulf them in a frightful abyss; 
that great monsters dwelt in its waters and that the pale 
faces and their canoes would surely be devoured. 

Turning a deaf ear to the admonitions of the friendly 
savages, the Frenchmen re-embarked, reaching In a short 
time the waters of Green Bay. Entering Fox River, which 
flows into this bay, they crossed Lake Winnebago, and soon 
were gliding through endless fields of wild rice. On the 7th 
of June they reached the village of the Macoutlns and Ml- 
amls, and from them engaged guides to the Wisconsin Riv- 
er. Continuing the ascent of the Fox to Its source, they 
carried their canoes a mile and a half across the portage 
that marks the watershed between the tributaries of the 
Mississippi and those of the St. Lawrence, and launched 
them upon the waters of the Wisconsin, rejoiced to embark 
at last upon a stream that would bear them — they knew not 
whither; perhaps to the Gulf of Mexico, perhaps to the 
South Sea, perhaps to the Gulf of California, 

Calmly down the tranquil stream glided the explorers, 
steering their light canoes In the shade of the tall forests 
that overarched Its waters. On the 17th of June they be- 
held athwart their course the broadly-rolling, majestic 
stream for which priest and trader long had sought, and 
"with a joy I cannot express." writes Marquette, they drove 
their frail barks upon Its waters. This was near the spot 
where now stands the town of Prairie du Chien. 

Turning their prows Southward, they glided along be- 
tween its verdant banks. Soon Marquette was badly fright- 
ened by a huge fish (probably a cat-fish) which blundered 
against ;his canoe. Not the faintest trace of man was dls- 



34 CLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY; 

cernible. They were greatly astonished at the eccentric 
appearance of a shovel-fish which they caught in their- net 
Presently herds of buffaloes, grazing peacefully on the prai- 
ries which bordered the stream, ca:me into view; and Mar-, 
quette remarks upon the fierce, but stupid appearance of 
the old males as they gazed at the intruders through the 
burry mass of mane which nearly blinded them. 

The party advanced with extreme caution, ft was 
their custom to land fn the evening, cook and- eat their sup- 
per, and then, re-embarking, paddle several miles farther 
down the stream and anchor at some distance from the 
bank. On the 25th of June they saw footprints on the 
Western shore, and looking closer discovered a well-beaten 
path leading away from the river. Conjecturing that it led 
to an Indian settlement, Joliet and Marquette resolved to 
follow it, leaving their men in charge of the canoes. After 
walking some six miles through leafy forests and across 
flowery prairies, an Indian viilage canrie into view. With 
beating hearts, and invoking the protection, of the Virgin 
Mary, the white men approached without being seen. Pres- 
ently they ^houted to attract attention. A great commo- 
tion ensued in the village. The inmates swarmed out of 
their huts, and soon four chiefs, bearing aloft two calumets 
or peace-pipes, advanced deliberately to meet the strangers. 
They wore French cloths, at the sight of which Marquette 
was much relieved. The two white men were escorted to 
the village, where, after the peace-pfpe was smoked, a feast 
was served. The first course consisted of Indian meal 
boiled in grease; the second, a platter of fish; the third, a 
large dog; and the last, a dish of buffalo meat. The master 
of ceremonies fed the white gliests in turn, using a' large 
spoon or his fingers, placing the- food in their mouths. The 
chief assured his guests that their presence added flavor to 
his tobacco, made the river more calm, the sky more se- 
rene, and the earth more beautiful. These Indians belonged 



DJSCaVERtes and, eXPLORATIONS. 35. 

to theJUinois trrbe,. with, some of whorri. Marquette had been 
longing to meet. 

After- this feast (which probably took place in wh?it is 
now Clark County, Missouri), the white men returned to 
tiieir canoe? and resumed their journey,, carrying with them 
two large calumets — the gift of. the friendly Illinois. Near 
\xbere the: city of. Alton now. ^t^d?,. they passed a Jar^e 
rock upon which some nati.ve sirtist had, painted, in red anci 
black and green,, a pair- of monsters, "each as large as a 
calf, with horns like $ deer, red eyes, beard like a tiger, 
and a- frightful' expression of countenance. . The face is 
something like that of a man, the body covered \yith scales; 
and the tail so long that it passes. entirely around the. body, 
over the he^id an4 between the- legs, .ending like that of a 
fish."* 

A little later, "and while still talking about these strange 
figures," they were startled by a real danger. They had 
reached the mouth of ths Missouri — or, as Marquette 
called it, the Pekitanoui (pronounced peck-i-/au/-noo-ee)t — 
and it was evidently at the time of a freshet. Those who 
have visited the spot at such a season understand the frightful 
aspect presented by the swollen stream. Their frail canoes ' 
were whirled in the vortex like dry leaves on an angry brook. 
Writes Marquette: "1 never saw any thing more terrific." 
But the explorers-escaped without loss or injury, and held 

*The rock wliere these figures were painted is just above the 

city of Alton. Paricman says (La Salle and the Discovery of the 

Great West) that in 1867 the figures were entirely effaced and a 

jpart pf tlie rock quarried away. St. Cosme says that in 1699 they 

were almost obliterated, 

7 fit is this word which means-"mttd'dy*^water;" and noVthe 
prisent name- as so often asserted^ The w^rd "Missouri" was ^he 
riatiVfl naVneof a'tribe;'Of IntdianS' whom the f/ench found living 
near the- ttHjvth. of -^the.^stfeam. Qn early French maps the river 
al^o bMr^ the names of.Riviftfe des .O^ages, and Riviere des Einis- 
sourites (Parkman). 



36 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

on their way down the turbulent current of the united rivers. 
Past the lonely forest which marked the present site of St. 
Louis they floated, and a few days later reached the mouth 
of the Ohio. 

Concerning their adventures with the natives of the 
lower Mississippi, we shall not dwell. On two or three oc- 
casions the hostile demonstrations of the red men were al- 
layed and collisions that seemed inevitable averted by a 
sight of the mysterious calumet which the priest held aloft. 
At the mouth of the Arkansas, after narrowly escaping what 
would have been a disastrous conflict with the natives, they 
paused; and as the mouth of the river, they were told, was 
yet distant many days* journey, they deemed it expedient 
to retrace their steps, especially as the hardships they had 
undergone had all but exhausted Father Marquette. Slow- 
ly and tediously they made their way up the stream, return- 
ing by way of the Illinois River, and in the latter part of 
September again touched land on the shores of Green Bay, 
having been absent four months, during which time they had 
paddled their canoes more than twenty-five hundred miles. 

While Marquette remained to recuperate his exhausted 
strength, Joliet hastened to Quebec to report his discover- 
ies. In the La Chine Rapids, at the very end of his jour- 
ney, his canoe was capsized, two of his men drowned, and 
his box of papers lost. During the spring of 1676, while 
engaged in his beloved vocation of carrying the Gospel to 
the natives, Marquette was stricken with a fatal sickness. 
In the midst of the wilderness he loved so well (near where 
now stands Grand Rapids, Michigan), with two companions, 
ihis spirit passed peacefully to its rest (May 19). The sur- 
vivors buried his body on the spot, but in the winter of 1676, 
some friendly Indians carried his bones to Point St, Ignace, 
where, beneath the little chapel he had built, the relies were 
laid. Afterwards this tiny chapel was burned, as was also 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. 37 

a church built upon the spot, and to-day its very site is 
forgotten. 

Note. — Ttie newspapers in May, 1877, chronicled the discov- 
ery of the site of Marquette's chapel at Point St. Ignace. It was al- 
so stated that a number of church relics had been unearthed, and 
that the bones of a human being had been exhumed. These were 
confidently believed to be the relics of Father Marquette. The site 
is just outside the present limits of Point St. Ignace, and was, in 
1877, covered with a dense underbrush. 



LA SALLE. 

The report of the discovery of the Mississippi River 
by Marquette and Joliet aroused the French to the import- 
ance of the exploration and the settlement of the great val- 
ley. It revealed to them something of the extent of the 
American continent; and while they knew that its Western 
shores were washed by the Pacific, it was now plain tha,t a 
vast extent of territory lay between the two oceans. To 
explore this great interior basin and to occupy it in the 
name of Louis XIV was the problem that confronted them. 

A proper leader for this vast enterprise was presented 
in the person of Rene-Robert Cavelier. Sieur de la Salle, 
v/ho came of the old and wealthy family of Caveliers, at 
Rouen, France. He was born in 1643, and it seems was 
trained for a Jesuit priest, but he did not take kindly to the 
confessional, nor did he ever show very great religious ten- 
dencies. Indeed his strong personality, vaulting ambition, 
and inordinate vanity were far from, the model which Loyo- 
la had commended to his followers. 

In 1666 we find him in Canada, where he received the 
gratuitous grant of a large tract of land at what is now called 
La Chine, some eight miles above Montreal. Here he 
laid out a settlement, of which he was the head. From a 
band of visiting Seneca Indians, he learned of the Ohio and 



38 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

the Mississippi Rivers. The intelligence fired his imagi- 
nation, and he resolved to explore the territory through 
which they flow. 

In 1670 La Salle made a trip into the Western wil- 
derness, the details of which are quite meager and to some 
degree shrouded in mystery. It appears that he became, 
separated from his white companions and for two years 
roamed with tribes of frienily Indians. La Salle himself 
told little about his adventures, but it is claimed by friends 
in France that he discovered the Ohio, and possibly the 
Mississippi. The first claim is generally accepted, but of 
the latter there is no proof. 

After these alleged discoveries, La Salle, at the ad- 
vice of Frontenac, governor of Canada, visited France, and 
on account of the representation there made, obtained the 
grant of the large seigniory of Fort Frontenac, located on 
the present site of Kingston, at the East end of Lake On- 
tario. Included was a large tract of land. Of the intrigues 
at home, and of the annoyances and impediments he suf- 
fered at the hands of envious and malicious contemporaries, 
we are not concerned. Suffice it to say that they were ample 
to dishearten any ordinary man, but the indomitable will of 
La Salle never for a moment faltered. With the Jesuits he 
was completely estranged, and henceforth chose his relig- 
ious counsellors and assistants from among the Recollet 
Fathers. His elder brother, who was also in Canada, was 
a priest of the Sulpitian order. 

After another trip to Paris, La Salle finally secured the 
coveted authority and grants, and obtained the requisite 
funds for prosecuting such an undertaking as he had in con- 
templation. Associated with him were Hennepin, a Recol- 
let friar, and Henri de Tonty, an Italian, whose father had 
invented a form of life insurance still called the Tontine. 

During the winter of 1678, La Lalle and his party 
spent several months on the Niagara River above the falls. 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. 39 

building, with materials brought from Fort Frontenac, a 
vessel of forty-five tons burden. These materials were, with 
prodigious labor, carried up the heights at Lewiston, thence 
to the mouth of Cayuga Creek, twelve miles beyond. The 
ship was named the "Griffin." After many vexatious de- 
lays, La Salle set sail on August 7th, 1679. The prow of 
the "Griffin" was the first of any vessel larger than an In- 
dian canoe to cut the waters of the four great lakes above 
Niagara River. Passing through Detroit River, it was soon 
gliding over the waters of Lake Huron, At Point St. Ig- 
nace a stop was made. In September the "Griffin" again got 
under way, and in a few days came to anchor in Green Bay. 
Here La Salle decided to freight his vessel with a cargo of 
furs and dispatch her to Niagara, while he with fourteen 
companions continued the voyage up Lake Michigan. The 
"Griffin" was never heard of again. Whether she was cap- 
tured by hostile natives, foundered in a storm, or wrecked 
by treachery, has never been known. 

After various adventures upon the lake, La Salle final- 
ly disembarked at the mouth of St. Joseph River. Here 
three weeks were spent in the construction of a fort, which 
was named Miami. At length La Salle was joined by Ton- 
ty who had been left at Ste. Marie. After an anxious wait 
until the third of September for the return of the "Griffin" 
and receiving no tidings of her, La Salle began his journey. 
His party consisted of thirty-three persons. In eight canoes 
they stemmed the current of the St. Joseph. Near where 
now stands the town of South Bend, Indiana, the canoes 
were shouldered and thus transported across the five-mile 
portage to the Kankakee, which here is a mere thread of 
water. Launching their canoes upon the tiny streamlet, 
they pushed their way through pool and morass. With ev- 
ery mile the current widened and deepened, and shortly the 
Illinois was reached. Through a dreary, voiceless, ice-bound 
solitude they floated. A Mohegan hunter supplied their 



40 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

scanty food. Farther along, Indian camps appeared, but 
they were silent and deserted. The tribes were absent on 
their winter hunt. 

On the fourth of January (1680) they entered Peoria 
Lake, where the first Indians were seen. Here the party 
remained several days. Six of La Salle's men, alarmed by 
the threatening demonstrations of the savages, deserted. It 
was decided to build a fort, and a spot half a league belo*^ 
the Indian town was selected. This was the first civilized 
occupation of the region no^ comprising the State of Illi- 
nois. La Salle christened it Fort Crevecoeur. No tidings 
of the "Griffin" having reached the Frenchmen, it was re- 
solved to build another vessel. Before it was completed, 
La Salle concluded to retrace his steps to Fort Frontenac, 
in order to secure additional rnen and supplies; ordering 
Father Hennepin, in the meantime, to explore the Illinois 
to its mouth. Tonly was to remain in charge at Creve- 
coeur, On the last day of February, Hennepin, with two 
companions, set out on his voyage; and one day later, La 
Salle, accompanied by four men, turned the prows of his 
canoes to the East. 

On Easter morning the intrepid Cavelier stepped ashore 
at Niagara. No word concerning the "Griffin" awaited him, 
and he was now satisfied that she had been lost. The sixth 
■ of May found him at Fort Frontenac, having, in sixty-five 
days, traveled about a thousand miles through a country be- 
set with every form of peril and obstruction; "the most ard- 
uous journey," says a chronicleer, "ever made by French- 
men in America." 

Procuring ample supplies and twenty-five men. La 
Salle, on the tenth of August (1680), embarked again for 
the Illinois, going via Lakes Simcoe, Huron and Michigan, 
and the St, Joseph, the Kankakee and the Illinois Rivers. 
Arriving at the site of the great town of the Illinois, a scene 
of desolation and appalling evidences of savage fury met 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. 4 1 

their gaze. A few weeks previously, the Iroquois had in- 
vaded that region. The plain which a year before had 
swarnned with life was now a barren waste of ruin and death. 
Everywhere were seen heaps of ashes, charred poles, and 
human bones; while packs of wolves held high carnival. 
Even the cemetery had been desecrated, and the bodies of 
the dead flung from the scaffolds. Not a sign of a living 
being could be discerned. Victor and vanquished had 
alike disappeared. At the site of Fort Crevecoeur (which 
had been destroyed by white deserters shortly after the de- 
parture of La Salle) the same scene of desolation was pre- 
sented. No trace of Tonty or his men could be found. 
La Lalle continued his voyage down the Illinois — it being 
evident that the Indians had fled in that direction, — and at 
many points found deserted camps of the antagonists, those 
of the Illinois on one side of the stream, and those of their 
savage enemies always exactly opposite. This was the 
method adopted to harrass the Illinois to their death. Si- 
lence brooded over the desert waste. Here and there were 
found the half-consumed bodies of women, bound to stakes. 
Continuing the descent of the river, the party at length 
reached the broad current of the Mississippi. No trace of 
the missing Tonty was found. As the greater part of La 
Salle's men had been left, under La Forest, at Fort Miami, 
the Frenchmen resolved to retrace their steps. 

When the great town of the Illinois had been attacked 
by the Iroquois, Tonty and the priests with him had vainly 
attempted to ward off hostilities. But they succeeded only 
in delaying the conflict. When the Illinois fled, the French- 
men remained in their town. Finally the Iroquois became 
so incensed at what they believed was the duplicity of the 
white men that they ordered them to begone. Then it was 
that Tonty began the ascent of the river; while the Illinois 
fled in the opposite direction. Father Ribourde,one of the 
priests, wandered off alone and was murdered by some 



42 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

prowling Kickapoos. His companions, subsisting mainly 
upon acorns and roots, at length reached Green Bay. Thus 
ended the first attempt by white men to establish a settle- 
ment in Illinois. 

In the meantime Father Hennepin had paddled his 
canoe to the mouth of the Illinois and thence turned its 
prow up the Mississippi. He was captured by a party of 
Sioux and carried to the upper part of that stream. His 
release was finally brought about through the efforts of Du 
Lhut, immediately after which the friar made his way to 
Quebec and took passage for France without ever reporting 
to La Salle. He published a long account of his adven- 
tures, the greater part of which is believed to be pure 
fiction. 

Three times have we followed Sieur de la Salle into the 
wilderness in quest of the Mississippi; three times have we 
seen him return to Canada without having accomplished his 
mission, though on two occasions its fruition seemed within 
his very grasp — and on his third voyage it was even given 
him to behold the great Father of Waters. Notwithstand- 
ing his sore disappointments, never, so far as the student 
of his life can discover, did he for one moment falter in his 
purpose to trace the meanderings of this stream from the 
point where, a tiny rill, it trickles through the virgin soil of 
the wilderness, to where the measureless volume cf its 
muddy current unites with the briny waters of the great 
deep. In this purpose he had thus far signally failed. His 
failures, too, were largely due to the malignity of certain 
influential persons in Canada, and partly to the perfidy of 
those he had trusted. Not another man in all New France 
would have persevered in the face of such tremendous odds. 
But with La Salle, while life and strength were given him, 
there was no abatement of effort. It was his fixed purpose 
to explore the Mississippi and end the uncertainty as to 
whether it flowed into the Gulf of Mexico or into the Ver- 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. 43 

million Sea (Gulf of California), and only death could swerve 
him from that determination. We shall see how at last 
he grappled with adversity, and out of the fragments of his 
ruin built up the fabric of success, thus stamping his name 
upon the pages of history as one of the great explorers of 
America. 

La Salle had spent the winter of 1680-81 at Fort Mi- 
ami, at the mouth of the St. Joseph River. Instead of 
brooding over his misfortunes, he improved the opportunity 
to gain the friendship and win the confidence of the Indians 
in that locality. The Iroquois were at war with all the tribes 
of that region and also with many of those in the far East, 
hence it behooved red man and white to join forces against 
the common enemy. Early in the spring La Salle learned 
that Tonty was at Michilimackinac. To put his affairs in 
shape, the Cavelier once more hastened to Fort Frontenac, 
paddling his canoe over one thousand miles of lake and riv- 
er. In September we find him embarked on his return, 
determined to essay once again the self-imposed task of 
following the Mississippi to the sea. It was late in the 
month when the patient voyager drew up his canoe at last 
upon the beach at Fort Miami. Twenty-three Frenchmen 
and thirty-one Indians — including ten squaws and three 
children whom the braves insisted should be taken along — 
comprised La Salle's fourth expedition into the Western 
wilderness. 

It was the 21st of December when they set out. They 
crossed the Southern end of Lake Michigan and entered the 
mouth of the Chicago River. As it was the dead of win- 
ter, they found all the streams frozen. Sledges were made, 
and on these were loaded canoes, baggage and disabled 
Frenchmen. Their course was up the Chicago River and 
across the portage to the most Northern branch of tho Illi- 
nois, dragging their canoes until the open water below Peo- 
ria Lake was reached. 



44 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

On the sixth of February, 1682, they swept out of the 
mouth of the Illinois onto the majestic bosom of the Mis- 
sissippi. After a week's delay, waiting for the arrival of the 
lagging Indians and for the river to clear of floating ice, the 
journey was resumed. Without incident they floated past 
the mouth of the Pekitanoui (the Missouri), past the mouth 
of the crystal Ohio, and on February 24th landed at what is 
now known as the First Chickasaw Bluffs. Here a hunter. 
Prudhomme, became lost, but, after some two weeks' ab- 
sence, was found in a half-dead condition. The Arkansas 
Indians extended to the explorers a kindly welcome, and 
two of them served as guides to the town of the Taensas, a 
tribe which had made far greater progress towards civiliza- 
tion than had any of the neighboring aborigines.* These 
also smoked the pipe of peace with the pale-faced strangers. 
The voyage, on the whole, was quite uneventful. On the 
sixth of April the river divided itself into three wide channels 
and shortly "the broad bosom of the Gulf opened on their 
sight, tossing its restless billows, limitless voiceless, lonely 
as when born of chaos, without a sail, without a sign of life." 

On the 9th, after chanting the Te Deum Laudamus and 
the Exaudiat, and amid volleys of musketry, La Salle took 
possession of "this country of Louisiana .... along 

*Tonty writes that he tiad "seen nothing liice it in America; 
dwellings large and square, built of sun-baked mortar, mixed with 
straw, surmounted by dome-shaped roofs of thatched cane. Two 
buildings larger than the others attracted the attention of the vis- 
itors. The one set apart for the chief was forty feet square and 
contained but a single room. The chief sat upon his throne to re- 
ceive his visitors. His three wives sat near him and howled an ac- 
companiment to his speeeh. About him stood sixty grave men 
clad in white robes made from the inner bark of the mulberry." 
The other building was the temple of the sun, where were kept the 
bones of the departed chiefs, supposed to have been children of 
the Sun god. A fire was kept constantly burning upon the altar 
by three old men appointed to that service.— Mather's The Making 
of Illinois, 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. 45 

the river Colbert or Mississippi * and the rivers which dis- 
charge themselves thereinto, from the source beyond the 

country of the Nadoussioux as far as the 

Gulf of Mexico," in the name of Louis XIV of France. A 
cross, and a column bearing a suitable inscription, were 
planted; and beside them was buried a leaden plate bearing 
the arms of France. 

Of the subsequent career of La Salle, we do not need 
to speak at length. Returning to Illinois, he dispatched 
Father Membre, one of the friars who had accompanied the 
expedition, to France with the news of his discovery, while 
he himself built, on a high bluff (afterwards named Starved 
Rock, near where the town of Ottawa now stands) a fort 
which he mamed St. Louis. At this place a score of 
Frenchmen and many friendly natives speedily gathered. 
To the former the explorer made grants of large tracts of 
land; to the latter the offer of protection was extended. 

But the affairs of the Cavelier were in desperate straits. 
La Barre, who had succeeded Frontenac as governor, was 
identified with the enemies of La Salle. Fort Frontenac 
was seized, a successor for the command at St. Louis was 
dispatched, and it is even asserted that the Iroquois were 
told they might rob and murder the great explorer with im- 
punity. Leaving Tonty in command at Fort St. Louis. La 
Salle, in the autumn of 1683, and prior to the reception of 
the news of his deposal, sailed for France. At Paris he 
laid his case before the colonial minister, in whom he found 
a warm advocate. Frontenac, too, who was regarded with 
considerable favor at court, interceded in his behalf. The 

* Tiie Mississippi lias had a variety of names. De Soto called 
it "Rio del Espiritu Santo;" other early Spanish writers, "Rio 
Grande." Marquette gave it the name, "Riviere de la Conception;'' 
on a Jesuit map of 1673 it bears the name, "Mltchisipi ou Grande 
Riviere;" in a later map it is called the Colbert River. Joliet called 
it the "Messasippi;" on another French map it is called "Riviere 
Baude." Many of the early French writers call it the "Messipi." 



46 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

outcome was that the business affairs of the explorer were 
put upon a substantial basis, his forts restored, La Barre 
ordered to make restitution for the humiliations inflicted, 
and means furnished for the establishment of a colony at 
the mouth of the Mississippi, conceded on all hands to be a 

strategic point, -if it was expected to gather the fruits of 

the discoveries and bring the great basin under the sway of 
the lilies of France. 

From its very incipiency. this last enterprise was fraught 
with disaster. A goodly number of persons — "three or four 
mechanics in each trade"; some eight or ten respectable 
famiilies; a number of girls, allured by the prospect of cer- 
tain marriage; a full complement of priests, among whom 
was La Salle's elder brother, the Sulpitian Cavelier; and a 
number of soldiers and sailors^constituted the expedition, 
which, on July 24th, 1684, sailed in four vessels from Ro- 
chelle. After a series of misfortunes (among them the 
capture by Spanish buccaneers of one of their vessels), the 
voyagers reached the Gulf of Mexico, and sighted land on 
the 28th of December. By accident, or owing to igno- 
rance, or possibly by treachery, they passed the mouth of 
the Mississippi, and, after coasting aimlessly along for sev- 
eral weeks, came to anchor in Matagorda Bay, which La 
Salle supposed was one of the mouths of the great river.* 
Here he built a fort, also called St. Louis; and after satis- 
fying himself that he was too far to the West, started out 
to find the Mississippi, But the effort was not attended 
with success, nor was another which was made in 1686. 

Meantime the affairs of the colony were becoming des- 
perate. The other vessels had been wrecked — one of them 

* Ttie fleet was commanded by a naval officer named Beau- 
jeau, wlio disliked La Salle, ridiculed his project, and quarreled 
with him before they were fairly out of Rochelle harbor.. Short- 
ly after landing at Matagorda Bay, Beaujeau became greatly of- 
fended and sailed tor France, taking one of the three vessels and 
much of the supplies and amunition. 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. 47 

doubtless through treachery. Disease and death ran riot. 
The number of colonists was reduced to forty-five. Those 
left alive became despondent. La Salle was charged with 
all the evils which had befallen the colony. Chief among 
his defamers was one Duhaut, who let pass no opportunity 
to cast aspersions upon his commander and to fan into flame 
the prevailing spirit of discontent. In his efforts he found 
a willing assistant in Hiens, a German. The abode of the 
colonists was one of weariness and a perpetual prison. 
Their thoughts, with unspeakable yearning, dwelt upon the 
blessings of sunny France, which to them seemed an unat- 
tainable Eden. 

The nearest point whence succor could be obtained 
was the Illinois, and to the other far-distant St. Louis La 
Salle resolved to go. In his party were included Duhaut, 
Hiens, and the other discontents — in all, seventeen persons. 
They did not march far. One day on the Trinity River, a 
party under Duhaut, out after game, tarried so long that 
three others — one a nephew of La Salle — were sent to as- 
certain the cause. They found the hunters, and some vio- 
lent words ensued. That night the three men were mur- 
dered as they slept by Duhaut and his followers. 

As the three messengers had failed to return when ex- 
pected. La Salle, with Father Douay and an Indian guide, 
set out the next morning in search of them. As they drew 
near the camp of the murderers, Duhaut and one Liotot, 
discovering the approach of their commander, concealed 
themselves in the tall grass and sent a companion to decoy 
him in their direction. The scheme was successful. Two 
shots rang out from the ambush, and the explorer lay dead 
upon the sward with a bullet through his brain. The faith- 
ful Indian met a like fate, but the life of the priest was 
spared. Thus on March 19th, 1 687 miserably perished at 
the early age of forty-three, Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la 
Salle, the most conspicuous figure among all the explorers 



48 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

of North America. Like his own Rock of St. Louis, he 
had stood unmoved by the pitiless blasts of diversity and 
death that swept about him, His shameful end was due to 
his inability or indisposition to gain the affection of those 
who served under him. 

Retribution followed swiftly in the path of the murder- 
ers. Soon they fell out among themselves. Duhaut and 
two or three of his fellow-conspirators were killed, while 
Hiens. fleeing to some neighboring Indians, came, it is told, 
to a miserable end. The Sulpitian Cavelier and the other 
survivors faithful to La Salle pushed on to St. Louis on the 
Illinois. Here they kept concealed the fate of their com- 
mander, representing that he had sent them to Canada. 
From Tonty they borrowed a large sum (in furs) and hast- 
ened to Quebec, thence to Paris, never divulging their secret 
until the Atlantic was crossed. Months afterward, Tonty 
learned of the pitiful fate of his beloved commander. Forth- 
with, with eight companions, he set out for the relief of the 
colony in Texas, but at the Arkansas River six of his men 
deserted, and after untold hardships he was forced to aban- 
don the attempt.* 

What of the colony in Texas? It fell a victim to the 
treachery of a party of Indians, admitted within the pali- 

* Before this, Tonty had done a noble act, one that showed the 
metal of which he was made. When Beaujeau reached France in 
1685, he told of La Salle's misfortune, and his story came to Tonty 
by way of Quebec. Forthwith the latter fitted out a relief party of 
twenty-five white men and five natives, and hastened down the Illi- 
nois and the Mississippi Rivers. Reaching the Gulf without dis- 
covering any traces of La Salle's party, Tonty explored the coast 
for thirty leagues in each direction, but this search was equally 
fruitless. Leaving with some natives a letter for La Salle, he sor- 
rowfully retraced his course to St. Louis on the Illinois. Thirteen 
years afterward, this letter was delivered to Iberville, governor of 
Louisiana, having been, in all that period, sacredly treasured by 
the Indians. 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. 49 

sades on the pretense of friendship. Only a few whites es- 
caped the massacre. These took up their abode with friend- 
ly natives, and eventually one or two escaped to tell the fate 
of St. Louis of Texas. 

Thus ends the mournful story of the explorers of the 
Mississippi. Of their almost herculean efforts, no monu- 
ment remained save the claim, by their king, to a vast ter- 
ritory stretching from the great lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, 
and from the Alleghanies to the Rocky Mountains; and the 
record of a grand type of incarnate energy and will. Where 
La Salle sowed, others were to reap. 



50 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 



SILVER HUNTERS AND EARLY LEAD MINERS. 



N ORDER to trace intelligently the interior explo- 
rations and the development of Missouri, it is nec- 
essary, by way of introduction, to say a word con- 
cerning the first settlements in Illinois, whence 
sprang those of our own commonwealth. Good Father 
Marquette had established at the chief town of the Illinois 
Indians a mission to which he gave the name of Kaskaskia. 
When growing infirmities impressed upon him the convic- 
tion that his remaining days upon earth were few, he bade 
a reluctant farewell to the tribe, promising that he would 
send other missionaries to carry on the work he had so aus- 
piciously begun. The natives had learned to love this 
humble priest, and with sorrowing hearts they watched his 
canoe disappear in the distance. But other priests came 
and administered the sacraments in the little cross-crowned 
chapel. 

About the close of the seventeenth century (probably 
in 1696), the encroachments of the ferocious Iroquois forced 
the Illinois to seek for their town a more protected location. 
A spot about six miles from the mouth of the Kaskaskia 
River was chosen, and there, on the banks of that little 
purling stream, the mission was re-located. Soon row upon 
row of Indian lodges covered the plain, while the log chapel 
was enclosed in a stout stockade pierced with loopholes. 
With the help of the natives, the Jesuit Fathers tilled the 



SILVER HUNTERS AND EARLY LEAD MINERS. 51 

soil adjoining the village. Large numbers of cattle, hogs, 
and other domestic animals were also among their products. 

About 1700 another mission was established at Caho- 
kia, four miles South of the present town of East St. Louis. 
There several Frenchmen located, and soon quite a settle- 
ment sprang up. But Kaskaskia was, at this time, the me- 
tropolis and commercial center of Upper Louisiana. 

The most important post of this locality was. however, 
yet to be established. The growing commerce between 
these settlements and Biloxi and New Orleans, which had 
been founded near the mouth of the Mississippi, necessitat- 
ed the establishment, for the protection thereof, of a strong 
military post somewhere in Illinois. A point on the Mis- 
sissippi, about midway between Kaskaskia and Cahokia, 
was selected for its site; and here, in 1718, ground was bro- 
ken for a substantial fort. This post \vas called Fort Char- 
tres, in honor of Due de Chartres, son of the regent of 
France, and "was erected on a scale of magnificence une- 
qualed by any other fortification of France in the new world." 
After more than two years of labor and at a cost of one 
million crowns, the fort was completed. It at once became 
the center of French military power in the Mississippi ba- 
sin, and under the protection of its guns a large village 
speedily sprang into existence. Into such prominence did 
the settlement grow that it was a saying of the time that 
"all roads lead to Fort Chartres." 

"Seven years after the death of La Salle, Henri de 
Tonty urged the seizure of Louisiana for three reasons: first, 
as a base of attack upon Mexico; secondly, as a depot for 
the furs and lead ores of the interior; and thirdly, as the 
means of preventing the English from becoming masters of 
the West."* The emigration to Upper Louisiana was from 
two sources — the settlements of the lower Mississippi and 
those of Canada. Soon there came a third class of persons, 

*Pari<.man's A Half-Century of Conflict, Vol. 11. 



52 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

principally direct from France. These were adventurers 
who had become impoverished and came in the hope of re- 
plenishing their depleted exchecquers, or "beggars sent out 
to enrich themselves " None of these were desirable ac- 
quisitions for the colonies. They were men who did not 
care to follow the ordinary vocations of hunting or tilling 
the soil, 

We shall now tell why this last class came to Louisi- 
ana. It is very certain that at the time of the first settle- 
ments in Illinois (as the upper part of Louisiana had come 
to be called), the search for silver was the controlling inter- 
est of the prominent colonists. There were current in the 
new settlements— as well as in the mother-country — reports 
to the effect that the hills and bluffs across the Mississippi 
from the posts above mentioned abounded in both silver and 
copper, and it is easily established that the official doc- 
uments and dispatches of the time gave especial promi- 
inence to this subject. As early as 1703, a party of twenty 
set out for Mexico, by way of the Missouri River, for the 
purpose of "visiting certain mines which were said by the 
Indians to yield a kind of lead that was white and of no ac- 
count because it would not melt in the fire," Of the fate 
of this party, there is no record.* 

There were exhibited at Kaskaskia, New Orleans, Mo- 
bile, and other towns specimens of silver ore said to have 
been mined in the Illinois country, but those who listened 
to such reports were doomed to disappointments. As a 
matter of fact, no silver was mined in Upper Louisiana, the 
specimens mentioned having been brought by the Indians 
from Mexico. But the colonial authorities seemed confi- 
dent that the while metal would ultimately be discovered, 
and attributed the past failures to the want of skill on the 
part of their agents. 

Louis Fourteenth had found his American colonies 

*Carr's Missouri, in American Commonweaitiis Series. 



SILVER HUNTERS AND EARLY LEAD MINERS. 53 

very expensive luxuries. Wars in which he was. at the 
opening of the eighteenth century, engaged at home had 
sadly depleted the royal exchequer. Hence the king could 
not furnish the means for developing the mines which he, 
in common with many of his foremost subjects, believed 
existed in Louisiana; but he was determined to keep this 
vast territory out of the hands of his enemies. So in 1712, 
a charter or patent for the entire district was granted to An- 
thony Crozat, giving him a monopoly for a term of fifteen 
years of the mines, fur trade, and all other sources of reve- 
nue. But the mines, which to the enchanted fancy of the 
Frenchmen were to yield wealth exceeding the historic 
richness of Peru and Golconda, were never discovered. 
Immense sums from which no returns were ever reaped 
Crozat spent in the vain search for the fleeting ignis fatuus. 
In 1717. he gladly relinquished his claim, which then passed 
into the hands of John Law's Mississippi Company. The 
members of this organization had their minds fixed upon 
silver mining, and all their energies were concentrated in 
that direction. Several parties were sent out, but a record 
of failure is all that remains of their exploitations, while the 
abandonment of agricultural pursuits brought the colonists, 
on several occasions, near the verge of starvation. In 1719 
came one Sieur de Lochon who "dug in a place showed 
him," but all he secured, after an outlay of some $350, 
were two drachms of silver (put into the crucible by him- 
self, it was believed) and fourteen pounds of very poor lead. 
Other parties followed, but they met with no better success. 
The field of all these operations was along the Meramec 
River and in other localities South of St. Louis. In order 
to promote the object of their organization and to encour- 
age the settlement of the country, the Mississippi Company 
held out to emigrants the most liberal inducements and 
made them donations of all lands which they would culti- 
vate and improve. 



54 CLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

In 1719, Sleur Philipe Francois Renault (or Renaud), 
the son of a celebrated iron founder in France, set out for 
the Illinois District. He is said to have been a rich man 
and one of unusual vim and enterprise. To him was given 
the title of "Director-General of the Mines of Louisiana." 
With him came two hundred practical miners and skilled 
assayers. En route they stopped at St. Domingo where 
were purchased a number of slaves, some writers say five 
hundred, for working in the mines. The party sailed up the 
Mississippi, and in 172Q we hear of them at Fort Chartres. 
From this point miners were dispatched to explore the hills 
and bluffs between the Mississippi and the Ozarks. No sat- 
isfactory reports having been brought to Renault, he crossed 
the river and engaged personally in the prosecution of his 
project. Prospecting shafts were sunk wherever it was 
deemed probable that ore might be found. Accompanying 
Renault was a miner named La Motte. They journeyed 
far into the pathless wilderness. Many were the dangers 
they braved. It is related that on one occasion the party 
was attacked by a large bear. All fled except Renault, who 
was fortunate enough to kill bruin before any injury was in- 
flicted upon himself. Nearly all of Ste. Genevieve County 
was explored by these prospectors. That their work was 
prosecuted with untiring energy is proven by the number of 
their mines which have since been discovered. La Motte, 
in one of his excursions, discovered the lead mine on the 
St. Francois which to-day bears his name; and Renault is 
credited with the discovery of the mines North of Potosi 
which are now called by his name. 

No silver was found, but lead ore was discovered in 
abundance. It occurred to Renault that doubtless it would 
be profitable to mine the latter metal. The idea was acted 
upon, and forthwith the slaves were set to work taking out 
lead. Rude furnaces for smelting the ore were erected. 
The lead was carried on pack-horses to the banks of the 



SILVER HUNTERS AND EARLY LEAD MINERS. 55 

Mississippi, whence it was ferried to Fort Chartres. From 
that point it was shipped down the river on flat-boats to New 
Orleans and thence conveyed to France. The lead mines 
proved profitable investments. How long the enterprise 
was continued, or how great the quantity of ore mined, is 
not definitely known. From all indications, It is quite cer- 
tain that a number of men were engaged in the work for 
many years. Large grants of land in the mining district 
were made to Renault and others, and we shall see that this 
resulted in settlements being made upon the West bank of 
the Mississippi. 

This enterprise of Renault's is of especial interest to 
students of Missouri history, because it was the first indus- 
try established within the present boundaries of ihe State 
and directed the attention of the civilized world to her in- 
exhaustible supply of lead. 



56 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 



FIRST SETTLEMENTS. 




TE. GENEVIEVE was the first permanent settle- 
ment made by Europeans within the present lim- 
its of Missouri. Of this there in no question; but, 
unfortunately, there has not come down to us suf- 
ficient data to determine with any certainty the precise year 
in which this settlement was be^un. But before proceed- 
ing with this subject, it will be necessary, in order to clear- 
ly understand subsequent events, to devote some space to 
other important matters connected with the early history of 
our commonwealth. 

In the year 1719, one Du Tisne conducted a party up 
the Missouri River to a point about where the present town 
of Grand Pass is located. Here he found, on the South 
bank of the river, the village of the Missouris. He desired 
to proceed farther, but the Indians refused to give him per- 
mission. Thereupon he returned to the Illinois, whence 
with a few followers he set out on horseback (starting from 
the mouth of Saline River, about seventy miles South of St. 
Louis), proceeding Westwardly across what is now the com- 
monwealth of Missouri, until the village of the Osages, situ- 
ated on a high hill near the stream bearing their name, was 
reached. After a short stay with these friendly natives, he 
went forty leagues farther to the village of the Pawnees 
(Panis). As he came from their enemies, these took him 
for a foe. Twice was the deadly tomahawk raised over his 



FIRST SETTLEMENTS. 57 

head to brain him, but when he coolly dared the red men 
to strike, they began to treat him as a friend. After plant- 
ing a French flag in their village, Du Tisne returned as he 
had come, guiding his party by means of a pocket compass, 
and reaching the Illinois after many hardships. 

It is well, in passing, to call attention to the fact that 
on the basis of the discoveries by De Soto, the Spanish still 
laid claim to all of Louisiana. The encroachments of th^^ 
French in both the upper and the lower Mississippi valleys 
had brought the Spaniards to a realization of the fact that 
they must either put forth strenuous efforts to dislodge the 
intruders and divert the fur trade to New Mexico, or else 
abandon all claim to the territory. With the former alter- 
native in view, a party of two hundred was, in 1721, organ- 
ized at Santa Fe. This party was a moving caravan of the 
desert, much as the one which, in the days of De Soto, as- 
tonished the natives of Florida. There were soldiers, fam- 
ilies, horses, mules, herds of hogs and cattle for food on the 
way and to stock the settlements which they purposed es- 
tablishing in the disputed region. This caravan, with a 
large body of Comanche warriors, marched into Missouri, 
lost their way, and engaged guides whom they instructed to 
lead the way to the village of the Pawnees, This tribe, 
the Spaniards had heard, were enemies of the French. By 
either mistake or treachery, the Spaniards were piloted to the 
camp of the Missouris, to whose chief they disclosed their 
purpose of exterminating his people, together with all the 
French settlers. The wily sacTiem listened gravely, and 
with that imperturbability characteristic of his race gave 
no sign that betrayed to the Spaniards their error. Every 
courtesy was shown the white men and they were invited 
to remain a few days ere resuming their march. Pleased 
with their reception, the visitors distributed a number of 
guns and other presents to the natives. In the meantime 
the chief summoned all his warriors, and on the night pre- 



58 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

ceding the day appointed for the Spaniards to march fell up- 
on his guests, dispatching with indiscriminate slaughter ali 
except one priest whose life was spared on account of the 
crucifix he wore. This priest was kept a prisoner for some 
time, but finally made his escape, the only messenger to 
carry the news that the treachery which the Spaniards ex- 
pected to mete out to others had befallen themselves. 

The boldness of this move on the part of their rivals 
warned the French that the time for establishing armed 
posts on the Missouri had arrived. Accordingly, in 1722, 
the West India Company ordered one Bourgamont to build 
and garrison a fort at, or near the Kansas River. He was 
instructed also to use his utmost endeavor to effect a peace 
between the Comanche (Paducah) Indians and the tribes 
of the Missouri, in the interest of the fur trade of the South- 
west, which it was hoped would be diverted to the French. 
Bourgamont had traded for years with the tribes among 
whom he was sent, hence was familiar with their customs. 
In accordance with his orders, he built a fort which he 
named Fort Orleans, the location of which is in dispute. 
Le Page du Pratz, in his -'Histoire de la Louisiana," says it 
it was situated on an island in the Missouri, opposite a vil- 
lage of the nation of that name; while another early account 
places it on the South side of the river, some fifteen or 
twenty miles above the mouth of Grand River. In support 
of the latter statement, attention is called to the fact that 
two miles above the town of Miami, in Saline County, on a 
commanding eminence, are to be seen the ruins of a fort. 
These ruins antedate the first settlement by white people in 
the vicinity.* Wherever may have been the location of 
this fort, there is no question of its being the first settle- 

* These are tlie ruins to wliich reference was made in our tlrst 
article concerning the Mound Builders. The writer is inclined to 
the opinion that here stood Fort Orleans, and not some pre-his- 
toric stronghold, as many writers contend. 



FIRST SETTLEMENTS. 59 

ment made by civilized people within the present limits of 
the State of Missouri. But brief as a summer's day was 
its existence, as the sequel shows. 

Bourgamont made a voyage up the Missouri to the 
Kansas, thence sent envoys to the Comanches, whose town 
was on the Arkansas River. In 1724, a peace between 
this nation and the Indians of the Missouri was negotiated. 
Shortly afterwards there arose some trouble between the 
French at Fort Orleans and the Missouris, in consequence 
of which the white garrison at the fort were butchered to a 
man. The French writers of the time are singularly reti- 
cent in regard to the event. Some assert that it was due 
to the insulting treatment of the wives of the red men by 
the white soldiers. Though the fort was destroyed, no 
more Spanish expeditions entered the bounds of Missouri. 

To Ste. Genevieve belongs the distinction of being the 
first permanent settlement in Missouri, but in regard to the 
year in which the town was founded, one can but speculate. 
Pencaut, who ascended the Mississippi in 1700, refers, in 
the journal which he kept, to the salt licks near the town, 
and adds that "presently there was a settlement at this 
place." But the earliest authentic reference to the village 
was made by Captain Bossu, who visited the Illinois coun- 
try in 1752. In his work he says: "The five bourgades (set- 
tlements) of the French in the Illinois are the village of the 
Kaskaskias, the Fort de Chartres, the Cahokias, the Prairie 
du Rocher, Saint Philippe; there is no\v among them a 
sixth called Ste. Genevieve."* 

Twci brothers are Intimately connected with the story 
of this first settlement, — Francis and Jean Batiste Valle, 
members of the Mississippi Company. These Frenchmen 
made their home, about 1730, at Fort Chartres. They 
were fur traders. Into the depths of the forests on the far- 
ther side of the Mississippi they made long journeys in ca- 
* New Voyajies to the West Indies, published in 1768. 



60 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

noes or on pack-horses, carrying supplies of such merchan- 
dise as was adapted for traffic with the red aborigines. Day- 
after day they went from one Indian village to another, dis- 
playing in one hand the calumet of peace and in the other 
some article signifying their desire for barter. An interpreter 
always accompanied them. Thus were collected large car- 
goes of furs, which were sent down the river to New Or- 
leans and thence conveyed to France. This vocation proved 
much more remunerative than digging for silver or copper. 

Passing so many of their days on the Western shore, 
where the soil was very productive and the Indians never 
hostile, it occurred to the brothers after awhile that it would 
be far more convenient and profitable to establish a post in 
that inviting region. Accordingly, in 1735 (so tradition has 
it), the Valles, with several of their friends and their fami- 
lies, crossed over the broad stream and laid out a settle- 
ment which was called Ste. Genevieve. It contained the 
usual blockhouse, surrounded by the homes of the settlers. 

The names of these first dwellers within our State have 
come down to us. They were: Francis Valle (command- 
ant of the post). Jean Baptiste Valle, Joseph Loiselle, Jean 
Baptiste Maurice, Francis Coleman. Jacques Boyer, Hen- 
ri Maurice, Parfant Dufour. Louis Boidue, B. N. James, 
and J. B. T. Pratt. 

The attention of these hardy pioneers was at first given 
to hunting and trading, but ere long the productiveness of 
the soil led them to devote much of their time to agricul- 
tural pursuits. Corn and wheat were raised. That the set- 
tlement in its earliest days was not especially noted for its 
prosperity, however, is attested by the story that to it the 
proud and opulent inhabitants of Kaskaskia gave the deri- 
sive appellation of "Misere." 

The town of old Ste. Genevieve was situated on Ga- 
bouri Creek, one mile from the Mississippi and three miles 
South of the present town. In 1785, "I'annee des grandes 



FIRST SETTLEMENTS. 61 

eaux," it was completely inundated, and for protection 
against the recurrence of such a disaster, the inhabitants 
chose a higher location where the present town was found- 
ed. From this date the growth of Ste. Genevieve was 
rapid, and soon it developed into a post of importance. 

Little concerning the life of the early settlers at Ste. 
Genevieve has come down to us. But some writer has put 
on record one story that is worth repeating. 

A young man of the settlement, Francis Maisonville, 
laid siege to th5 heart of a Peoria maiden, the lodges of 
whose tribe stood in the vicinity. The wooing was success- 
ful, their troth was plighted, and in due time, in the little vil- 
lage chapel, the dusky maiden, in broken French, lisped 
the responses which made her the wife of young Maison- 
ville. But their union was bitterly opposed by the family 
of the maiden, and one day when her husband was absent 
the bride was stolen away by her brother and some com- 
panions. They carried her to a village of her tribe about 
six days' journey from Ste. Genevieve. Here she was kept 
bound with thongs and closely watched by two old squaws. 

When the husband returned and found his wife gone, 
he at once knew what had happened. Summoning several 
friends, he started in pursuit. But the cunning savages had 
used all the ingenuity of their race to conceal their trail, 
and after several days of fruitless search, the white men 
abandoned the chase in despair. 

One night the patter of drops upon the roof of the wig- 
wam told the captive that a gentle rain was falling. Her 
two guardians, wearied with their long vigil, had fallen in- 
to a deep slumber. Stealthily she made her way to the door 
and held under the drip from the roof the deer-skin thong 
with which her hands were bound, until it became softened. 
Then she deftly slipped it off her wrists, and loosened that 
which bound her feet. One hasty glance assured her that 
the two old women still slept, so with noiseless yet quick 



62 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

steps she stole into the darkness. Quickly was her flight 
discovered and soon fleet warriors were upon her track. 
But she possessed a large share of Indian cunning and suc- 
ceeded in eluding the pursuit. Once her brother sat upon 
the very hollow log in which she was concealed, while a few 
yards away his companions cooked and ate a meal. 

After many days of weary travel during which she sub- 
sisted upon such berries and fruits as the forests yielded, 
she presented herself at the cabin of her distracted husband. 
Then there was a season of rejoicing in that humble home. 

Afterwards the wife's family became reconciled to her 
marriage with the pale face, and soon she and young Mai- 
sonville were numbered among the most respected of the 
citizens of Ste. Genevieve. 

Note.— General Rozier, in liis "History of tlie Early Settlements 
of the Mississippi Valley," says: "In the district of Ste. Genevieve, 
during the occupation by the Spanish and French governments, 
were many Indian villages, among others one called Challicothe, 
situated on Pomme [Apple] River. This village was occupied by 
the Chowanans; a branch of the Peorias, who belong to the once 
numerous Illinois family. The Chowanans numbered about five 
hundred, lived in log cabins, cultivated corn, and were far more 
advanced in civilization than were other tribes in upper Louisiana. 
They were tall, robust people, and their women were pretty and 
exceedingly swift of foot. A sister of the celebrated Tecumseh was 
a member of this tribe and lived in the village. She married a 
Frenchman named Maisonville, and their descendants, now numer- 
ous, still live in New Madrid County. These Indians, who always 
maintained friendly relations with the French, returned to their 
kindred on the East side of the river about l750, and were living 
near Kaskaskia, with the Peorias, in 1769, when Pontiac was assas- 
sinated by a member of that tribe. This murder, which aroused 
the vengeance of all the tribes friendly to Pontiac, especially the 
Sacs and Foxes, brought on the successive wars which resulted in 
the total extermination of the Illinois nation, including the Cho- 
wanans." 



CESSION OF LOUISIANA AND SETTLEMENT OF ST. LOUIS. 63 



m 

s www 



CESSION OF LOUISIANA AND SETTLEMENT OF 
ST. LOUIS. 

O OTHER settlements were made within the pres- 
ent boundaries of Missouri until after the close 
of the French domination in Louisiana, which 
occurred in 1762, In November of this year, 
Louis XV transferred to Spain that part of the colony West 
of the Mississippi. How this was brought about it is now 
necessary to relate. 

Under the control of John Law's company, Louisiana 
had prospered, but the prosperity was the result of a lavish 
expenditure of money on the part of the managers. During 
the fourteen years the territory was under their control, the 
company had spent upon it twenty million livres. The 
population in that period had grown from seven hundred to 
seven thousand, two thousand of the number being slaves. 
In 1731, the charter was surrendered to the crown, the ex- 
penditures were reduced to a fraction of what they had been 
under the preceding regime, and the population, no longer 
augmented by fortune-seeking adventurers from France, 
fell off to six thousand (1745). From this latter date, how- 
ever, the number of the colonists slowly increased, until, in 
1763, according to De Rassac, Louisiana contained three 
thousand families which averaged four persons to each. In 
1766, according to Martin's History of Louisiana, published 
in 1827, there were in Spanish Louisiana five thousand, five 



64 GLEANINGS )N MISSOURI HISTORY. 

hundred and fifty-six white persons: and the blacks were 
nearly as numerous. 

We have said that the king of France found his Amer- 
ican colonies expensive luxuries. In 1740, the royal ex- 
penditures in Louisiana alone were 310,000 livres; in 1747 
they were 532,000; and in 1759 they are said to have been 
800,000. During the whole of the time that the colony 
was a dependency of the crown, the expenditures aggregat- 
ed probably eight or ten million dollars. 

France at this time found herself in sore straits. 
Through centuries of strife and vicissitudes, the monarchy 
had triumphed over nobles, parliaments and peoples and 
reached, under Louis the Great, the zenith of its power; 
but under his contemptible successor the seeds of decay 
speedily appeared, until, robbed of prestige, burdened with 
debt and honeycombed with corruption, it made great and 
rapid strides towards the abyss of ruin. A few years later 
came the culmination in the Revolution which deluged 
the whole kingdom, pitilessly sweeping to the guillotine all 
that were noble of both sexes, including Louis XVI and the 
ever lamented Marie Antoinette;* while the rabble, drunken 
with rapine and slaughter, abandoned religion and wor- 
shipped first at the shrine of the Girondists and then at that 
of the Mountain, until they found their master in the young 

*The reign of Louis XV was nearly coincident with the French 
regime in Missouri. His accession to the throne dates from l7l5, 
and he died in 1774, 'tired even of his pleasures, disgusted with ev- 
erything, and despised by all." His grandson, who succeeded to 
the throne, was twenty years old. He and his youthful wife, Marie 
Antoinette, were in another part of the palace, awaiting the tidings 
of the death of the king. Suddenly a sound, "terrible and abso- 
lutely like thunder," smote upon their ears. It was a crowd of 
courtiers rushing to salute the new king and queen. Overpowered 
by emotion, the youthful pair threw t'.iemselves opon their knees, 
exclaiming, "O God, guide us! Protect usi We are too young to 
govern!" Perhaps theirs was a sad premonition of the terrible fate 
that befell them. Fifteen years later came the Revolution. 



CESSION OF LOUISIANA AND SETTLEMENT OF ST. LOUIS 65 

Corsican lieutenant of artillery, who trained his guns upon 
their ranks with terrible effect. 

In America, the downfall of Quebec, due to the shame- 
ful corruption and peculation of those high in power, marked 
the end of French domination. The flo^^er of New France 
that, on the fateful Plains of Abraham, went down before 
the conquering Cross of St. George could never more be 
marshaled beneath the snowy folds of the fleur-de-lis. Eng- 
land was master; her supremacy on the sea was undisputed; 
both her great rivals were humbled — France swept entirely 
from her path. Spain, with her vast American posses- 
sions, began sinking into that phenomenal decay which, in 
the closing years of the nineteenth century, found its cul- 
mination in those causes which brought about the war that 
deprived her of the last remnant of her colonial possesions, 
— causes as infamous as those which, during the heroic 
Struggle of Protestantism in the Netherlands, made the 
name of Alva a stigma to civilization. And France, lately 
England's maratime rival, gave up the contest in despair. 

The result was a peace (the preliminaries of which 
were signed on November iOth, 1762), disastrous to both 
France and Spain. With its European conditions we are 
not concerned, but in America, Canada, Acadia, Cape 
Breton, and all that part of Louisiana East of the Mississip- 
pi, excepting New Orleans and a small adjacent territory, 
were ceded to England; while Spain gave up Florida in re- 
turn for Havana which England had wrested from her. 
On the same day Louis, making a virtue of necessity, signed 
a secret agreement with his cousin of Spain by which he 
transferred to fhat nation the remainder of his American 
possessions, comprising New Orleans and that part of Louis- 
iana West of the Mississippi, It was at best a gift of doubt- 
ful value and seems to have been accepted with reluctance 
by the king of Spain, who did so doubtless more as a favor 
to his most Christian majesty. Louis of France, than in the 



66 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

hope of ever reaping any benefits therefrom. The defini- 
tive treaty between England, France and Spain was signed 
on February 16th. 1763. 

Before the news of the cession of the territory reached 
Louisiana, the most important settlement in the district was 
begun. We refer to St. Louis, which was founded on the 
15th of February, 1764, by Pierre Laclede Ligueste, or as 
he is more commonly called, Pierre Laclede. "He was 
born in Bion. France, near the base of the Pyregees Moun- 
tains, the line between France and Spain, in the year 1724. 
He was about five feet, eleven inches in height, of very 
dark complexion, had black, piercing and expressive eyes, a 
large nose and expansive forehead. He was a merchant of 
no ordinary mind. Others have acquired vastly larger es- 
tates, but no one has excelled him in pushing forward com- 
mercial enterprises in person, and planting the seed of a 

city in more fertile soil He left a host of 

friends to lament his death, speak his praise, and enjoy his 
labors; but no widow to shed a tear, or child to inherit his 
property or his name. His history while in Missouri, how- 
ever, lives, and must live as long as the city he founded 
retains its name."* 

In 1763, the firm of Laclede, Maxent & Company, 
more popularly known as "The Louisiana Fur Company," 
obtained from M. D'Abbadie. civil and military commander 
and director-general of Louisiana, a charter which gave 
them a monopoly of the fur trade with the Indians of the 
Missouri and those West of the Mississippi above the Mis- 
souri. An expedition under the leadership of Laclede was 
fitted out at New Orleans, having for its purpose the estab- 
lishment of a permanent trading post at some point in the 
territory mentioned and North of the then existing settle- 
ments. This expedition, including a number of trappers, 
hunters and mechanics, and carrying a large quantity of 

* History of St. Louis, by Eliini H. Snepaid. 



CESSION OF LOUISIANA AND SETTLEMENT OF ST. LOUIS. 67 

merchandise adapted for barter with the natives, left New 
Orleans on August 3d, 1763, and three months later, after 
toiling for many weary days against the impetuous current 
of the Mississippi, touched at Ste. Genevieve. Laclede's 
first object was to secure storage-room for his cargo of 
goods, but Ste. Genevieve afforded no suitable accommo- 
dations. D Abbadie bad been directed to transfer to the 
English on demand that portion of the territory East of the 
river, and pending the time when such transfer should be 
made, the commandant at Fort Chartres tendered Laclede 
permission to store his goods within that stronghold. The 
offer was accepted, and soon Laclede's men were distribu- 
ted at different points along the Mississippi. 

After a brief stay at Fort Chartres, Laclede set out for 
the mouth of the Missouri. Soon upon the Western bank 
of the river he discerned a spot which his practical eye told 
him was well adapted for mercantile pursuits. Here a line 
of richly wooded bluffs rose with easy ascent from the mar- 
gin of the river; while Westward from their summits ex- 
tended a broad plateau of fertile prairie. Pleased with the 
aspect, Laclede decided to establish there the proposed 
settlement. As winter was at hand, he could do no more 
than to mark a few trees, in order that the spot might easi- 
ly be found, and return to Fort Chartres. 

In the following February, he sent out a party under 
Auguste Chouteau to begin the new settlement. On the 
15th of the month they arrived at the site chosen, and work 
was at once begun "on the block next to the river on the 
South sid2 of Market Street, where the old Merchants' Ex- 
change building now stands, which has been the site of the 
only market-house the city contained for about sixty years 
from its foundation, and gave name to the street on which 
it was located. Temporary buildings for the shelter of his 
workmen and tools were soon constructed from the timber 
on the ground; for that part of the city was covered with a 



68 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

growth of the most suitable timber for that purpose, and for 
the camp-fires of the new settlers, so necessary at that in- 
clement season of the year."* 

In honor of Louis XV, the new settlement was named 
St. Louis; but, as it afterwards transpired, that part of Louis- 
iana had already been secretly transferred to Spain. Says 
Parkman: "Side by side with Laclede, in his adventurous 
enterprise, was a young man, slight in person, but endowed 
with a vigor and elasticity of frame which could resist heat 
or cold, fatigue, hunger, or the wasting hand of time. Not 
all the magic of a dream, nor the enchantment of an Ara- 
bian tale, could outmatch the waking realities which were 
to arise upon the vision of Pierre Chouteau. Where, in 
his youth, he had climbed the woody bluff and looked around 
on the prairies dotted with bison, he saw, with the dim eye 
of his old age, the land darkened for many a furlong with 
the clustered roofs of the Western metropolis. For the si- 
lence of the wilderness, he heard the clang and turmoil of 
human labor, the din of congregated thousands; and where 
the great river rolled down through the forest, in lonely 
grandeur, he saw the water lashed into foam beneath the 
prows of panting steamboats, flocking to the broad levee. "f 

In a footnote to the above, Mr. Parkman adds: "I vis- 
ited this venerable man in the spring of 1846, at his coun- 
try seat, in a rural spot surrounded by woods, within a few 
miles of St. Louis. The building, in the picturesque arch- 
itecture peculiar to the French dwellings of the Mississippi 
Valley, with its broad eaves and light verandas, and the sur- 
rounding negro houses filled with gay and contented inmates, 
was in singular harmony with the character of the patriarch- 
al owner, who prided himself on his fidelity to old French 
usages. Though in extreme old age, he still retained the 
vivacity of his nation " 

* Sliepard's History ot St. Louis, 
t Conspiracy of Pontiac. Vol. II. 



CESSION OF LOUISIANA AND SETTLEMENT OF ST. LOUIS. 69 

Another writer says of Laclede: "His scrutinizing eye 
and sound judgment directed him to the point on the block 
on Main Street, in front of the spot where the Merchants' 
Exchange was afterwards located, as the best spot to sell 
goods on the West side of the Mississippi, in 1764. More 
than a century has since elapsed, and it is the best place 
yet. On this celebrated block Mr. Laclede Ligueste erect- 
ed his dwelling house and store."* 

Laclede's party had been increased by some families 
from Cahokia. but the band, numerically, was much too 
small to cope successfully with the Indians, had the latter 
been of hostile intent. But the natives of that vicinity do 
not appear to have been of a belligerent disposition. They 
visited the settlement, but they came not grotesquely hor- 
rible with vermilion and ochre, with white lead and soot. 
They came instead begging alms of the newcomers, for the 
wolf was lurking about the doors of the savage wigwams. 
Their importunities were granted. 

Long years of war with England had deeply imbittered 
the colonists, and with disgust and execration they heard of 
the treaty. Loth to dwell under the British flag, many of 
those in Illinois left the country. Of these, some crossed 
over to Ste. Genevieve; others followed the commandant, 
Neyon de Villiers. to New Orleans; while others, taking 
with them all their belongings, even to the frames and clap- 
boarding of their houses, passed over the river to the new 
settlement at St. Louis, following, as they fondly believed, 
the snowy banner of France. Thither came also the com- 
mandant at Fort Chartres, St. Ange de Bellerive, and his 
force of forty soldiers. By common consent, St. Ange as- 
sumed control at St. Louis, and the nceforth the new settle- 
ment was the chef-lieu or seat of justice of the new district. 

The disastrous war waged against the English by Pon 
tiac was just closing. Beaten in every quarter, and with a 

* Davis and Durrie's History of Missouri. 



70 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

spirit burning with hate and a desire for vengeance, the baf- 
fled chieftain appealed to St. Ange, ere the surrender of 
Fort Chartres, for aid. While it doubtless would have re- 
joiced the Frenchman to see dangling in the \vind above the 
Indian tepees the scalp of every Englishman in the Missis- 
sippi Valley, he could not openly give the aid sought, so he 
had to temporize with his late allies, cajoling them with 
presents and promises. Again and again was St. Ange be- 
set by the importunate savages, until with intense longing 
he watched for the coming of the English. 

Not long had the commandant to wait. A hundred 
Highlanders of the famous 42d Regiment, whose battle-cry 
had echoed over the most hotly contested of American 
fields, under the command of Captain Stirling, left Fort 
Pitt, and, descending the Ohio, reached Fort Chartres just 
as the first fleeting snow-clouds of winter began to darken 
the Northern horizon (October, 1765). The white banner 
of Louis fluttered down from the flag-staff, the Cross of St. 
George was flung to the breeze, St. Ange yielded up his 
post, and the citadel of the Illinois, with its twenty cannon 
frowning across the encroaching Mississippi (which a score 
of years later engulfed curtain and bastion in its yawning 
abyss), had new masters. 

Later, Pontiac came to St. Louis to renew his peti- 
tion, but met with no encouragement. After visiting St. 
Ange, he proceeded to the house of which Pierre Chouteau 
was an inmate. The savage chief was arrayed in the full 
uniform of a French officer, which had been presented to 
him by Montcalm as a special mark of favor and respect, 
and which the doughty chieftain had the good taste not to 
wear except on occasions of unusual importance. He re- 
mained in St. Louis two or three days. Hearing that a 
number of Indians had gathered at Cahokia, Pontiac, against 
the advice of St. Ange, crossed over and engaged with them 
in a carousal. While drunk, he stole into the adjacent for- 



CESSION OF LOUISIANA AND SETTLEMENT OF ST. LOUIS 71 

est. An assassin, a Kaskaskia Indian, bribed, it is said, by 
an English trader with a barrel of liquor, followed steathily 
in his footsteps. Nearer and nearer crept the skulking sav- 
age. Then a sudden bound, the gleam of a tomahawk, and 
the renowned chieftain sank to the earth, his cranium cleft 
in twain (April, 1769). To expiate this crime, a whole na- 
tion (the Illinois, to the Peoria branch of which the assas- 
sin belonged) was all but exterminated. 

St. Ange claimed the neglected body of his red friend, 
and carried it to St. Louis. There it was buried near the 
fort. For a mausoleum, a city of nearly three-quarters of 
a million has risen above the ashes of the forest hero; and 
with unceasing steps the race which he hated with such 
burning rancor and fought so long and so valiantly trample 
over his grave. For one hundred and thirty years no mon- 
ument or inscription marked his burial-place, but as we 
write * a tablet in the Southern Hotel, which is supposed to 
stand on or near the spot of his interment, is being dedi- 
cated to his memory. 

A little later, the body of St. Ange was laid to rest 
near that of his red friend. But no man can point to the 
grave of either. 

And what of the grave of Pierre Laclede? While on 
his return from a business trip to New Orleans, he died on 
June 20th, 1778, at the mouth of the Arkansas River, and 
was buried about two hundred yards from the West bank of 
the Mississippi, in a public cemetery. No stone ever marked 
his grave, and it is believed that long since his ashes 
washed into the river to join those of its great discoverer. 
But a county and a town, besides other objects, perpetuate 
his name in Missouri; and the inhabitants will ever hold the 
memory of the great merchant, trader and pioneer in the 
most profound reverence. 

:j: January 27th, 1901. 



72 CLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 



SPANISH DOMINATION. 




VER the Western half of divided Louisiana floated 
the red and yellow banner of Castile for forty 
years. But during this period the home country 
contributed little to the population and to the 
wealth of the territory. The realms of the Montezumas 
and of the Incas offered a more inviting field for the avari- 
cious Spaniards than did the Mississippi region, where no 
mines other than those which yielded lead had been devel- 
oped, and where the process of acquiring wealth from the 
fur trade was too slow and arduous for the impotent natives 
of the European peninsula. Hence save those who filled 
the offices and places of trust, few Hidalgoes came to the 
Mississippi Valley. The colonists were French, and under 
the Spanish regime, their life "pursued the even tenor of 
its way." with scarcely a ripple to indicate that the lilies 
had been supplanted by the bicolor of the new rulers. The 
French names, the French customs, and, in the main, the 
French laws prevailed; and. save in the highest courts, the 
French language was everywhere spoken. Under the Span- 
ish sovereignty, few settlements were established. Of these. 
New Madrid is the only one of importance within our com- 
monwealth, it is true that during these forty years many 
new settlements sprang up, but the enterprises in this direc- 
tion had no aid from the King of Spain except in grants of 
land — considered valueless until occupied and improved. 



SPANISH DOMINATION. 73 

As the territory offered no field for Spanisli greed, the new 
rulers were remarkable for nothing so much as their in- 
competency. 

At St. Louis, the transfer of the province to Spain was 
effected quietly. Although the cession dates from 1762, it 
was not until 1771 that the rule of the Spanish actually be- 
gan. In April, 1764. the governor. D'Abbadie, received 
orders to proclaim the change of royal masters. The prri 
val in New Orleans, in 1766, of General D'Ulloa with a de- 
tachment of troops indicated an intention on the part of 
Spain to assume control of her newly acquired territory, 
but the authority of the Spanish representative was strongly 
resisted, and, after two years of strife, D'Ulloa, by a decree 
of the council, was banished. He was charged, among 
other things, with "hoisting the flag of Spain at the Balize, 
at the Illinois, and other places." With singular inconsist- 
ency, however, the French authorities permitted D'UUoa's 
royal master to pay the expenditures of the colony. France 
continued in nominal control of the territory until 1769 when 
Count O'Reilly arrived at New Orleans with three thousand 
men — a force large enough to overcome all opposition. 
With his coming ended the French supremacy in the terri- 
tory. The authorities submitted quietly, giving O'Reilly no 
occasion to use his troops. It is said that for the conspir- 
acy against the administration of D'Ulloa, five of the ring- 
leaders were executed and several others banished. 

During 1768, one Rlos, with a small detachment of 
Spanish troops, reached St. Louis and took possession of 
the country in the name of his most Catholic Majesty. The 
inhabitants, having no means of defense, offered no resist- 
ance, but the records show that St. Ange continued to act 
as governor until the close of 1770, when Don Pedro Pier- 
nas arrived from New Orleans and entered upon executive 
functions as lieutenant-governor and military commandant 
of the district. 



74 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

Upper Louisiana was constituted a province or dis- 
trict, separate from lower Louisiana. In 1769 it had a 
population of 891, confined to the villages of St. Louis and 
Ste. Genevieve. The acts of the lieutenant-governor were 
subject to the approval of the governor-general at New Or- 
leans. The few laws seem to have been quite salutary, 
and aggravated crimes against the person rare. During the 
entire forty years of Spanish rule, only one case of murder 
was reported at St. Louis. 

"In September, 1774, St. Ange died at his quarters at 
Madame Chouteau's house, then situated on the block be- 
tween Chestnut and Market, and Main and Second Streets. 
Before dying, he made his will, in which was shown that 
his ruling passion, honesty, was strong in death. Declaring 
himself a good Catholic, and commending his soul 'to God, 
the blessed Virgin, and to the saints of the Celestial Court,' 
he appointed his friend, Pierre Liguest Laclede, his execu- 
tor — directing in his will that the bill for his board should 
be paid to Madame Chouteau; that he owed for twenty-five 
cords of wood, and an account to his tailor. He also or- 
dered that masses be said for the repose of his soul, and 
that five hundred livres be paid out of his estate to the 
Catholic Church."* 

In 1775, Piernas was succeeded by Cruzat; in 1778 
De Leyba became lieutenant-governor, but two years later 
Cruzat was recalled. In 1787, Per«z was appointed to the 
office. In 1793, he was followed by Trudeau; and he in 
turn, in 1799, by Delassus. the last of the Spanish lieuten- 
ant-governors. 

Hundreds of English-Americans flocked to Louisiana, 
Two causes brought this about. The first was the liberal- 
ity of the Spanish rulers in making grants of land to settlers, 
and the second was the comparative exemption from taxa- 
tion on the West side of the Mississippi. The land grants 

*S\vitzier's History of Missouri. 



SPANISH DOMINATION. 75 

are classified as complete and incomplete. In the first 
class are the grants direct from the crown, and those made 
by, or with the approval of, the governor-general. The 
second class includes those made by the lieutenant-govern- 
or, without the confirmation of his superior. The grants 
were also classified as specific, when defined by metes and 
bounds; and general, when they applied to any unoccupied 
lands. They gave rise to endless litigation, and it was 
many years before the last of such cases passed from the 
court docket. 

After the cession of Louisiana and the founding of St. 
Louis, settlements within the present boundaries of Mis- 
souri multiplied rapidly. The soil was productive; the pros- 
pect inviting; the mines yielded abundantly; game was plen- 
tiful; the climate salubrious; the natives friendly; the laws 
beneficent; taxes not burdensome; — and thither, as we have 
said, came many of the French settlers and voyageurs from 
the Illinois, preferring to follow the red and yellow banner 
of Spain rather than to live beneath the hated Cross of 
St. George. 

The success of the French in planting colonies through- 
out the West was largely due to the conciliatory policy 
adopted in their dealings with the natives. In all their long 
journeys overland, in their explorations of the remotest 
rivers, in their winter quarters in wigwam and fort, the red 
man and the white fraternized on terms of perfect equal- 
ity. In his free and easy manners, the French trapper and 
hunter mingled with the dusky aborigines, and was cordially 
welcomed in all their villages. If he chose he might make 
his home with them, adopt their dress, join their hunting par- 
ties, and marry one of their maidens. From this ready adop- 
tion of Indian customs and mode of living, and the frequent 
intermarriage with native women arose most amicable re- 
lations between the red men and the white settlers. But 
the result tended to sink the Frenchman into a barbarian. 



76 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

He loved to decorate his hair with the feathers of the eagle, 
adorn his hunting shirt with hairy fringes, embellish his 
moccasins with a web-work of porcupine quills, dance the 
war dance of the savages and yell their war songs, regale 
the chiefs at his table, and load them with presents and 
decorations. It is said that Count Frontenac himself, 
plumed and painted like a savage chief, danced and yelled 
about their camp fires, to the Intense delight of his red al- 
lies; and whenever a party of sachems paid a visit to a 
French fort, they were welcomed with a thundering salvo 
of artillery. 

The people seem to have lived in peace with the na- 
tives. In 1794 a war with a tribe of Missouri Indians, with 
whom the hunters and trappers for some years had not been 
on very amicable terms, was threatened; but according to 
Major Stoddard it was averted in the following curious man- 
ner: A chief with a party of his warriors at his back boldly 
entered St. Louis and demanded an interview with Govern- 
er Trudeau. His demand being granted, the chief said: 
"We have come to offer you peace; we have been at war 
with you for many moons, and what have we done? Noth- 
ing. Our warriors have tried every means to meet yours 
in battle; but you will not, you dare not fight us; you are a 
parcel of old women. What can be done with such a 
people but make peace, since you will not fight? I come 
therefore to offer you peace, and to bury the hatchet, to 
brighten the chain and again to open the way between us." 
The Spanish governor was obliged to bear the insult, but 
there was no war. 

During Cruzat's second administration, bands of Shaw- 
nees, Delawares and other tribes, crowded out of their hunt- 
ing grounds in the East by the encroachments of the Euro- 
peans, were brought to Louisiana and located on reserva- 
tions about Ste. Genevieve, Cape Girardeau, and other set- 
tlements, so as to serve as a barrier against the warlike 



SPANISH DOMINATION. 77 

Osages. who had been committing sundry depredations up- 
on the whites. The move was effective. It resulted in 
perfect immunity from danger in that quarter, 

A story told of one of these Shawnee chiefs forcibly 
Illustrates the difference in the treatment the natives re- 
ceived at the hands of the French and Spanish and the 
English and Americans. Many years later, he Is said to 
have addressed these words to General Harrison: "You 
call us your children; why do you not make us happy as our 
fathers, the French, did? They never took from us our 
lands; indeed, they were in common between us. They 
planted where they pleased, and cut wood where they 
pleased. So did we. But now, if a poor Indian attempts 
to take a little bark from a tree to cover him from the rain, 
up comes a white man and threatens to shoot him, claim- 
ing the tree as his own." 

The year 1785 Is remarkable for an unusual rise in 
the Mississippi River. The whole American Bottom was 
covered with a flood of water, bearing along in Its impetu- 
ous career thousands of uprooted trees, logs, and quantities 
of other debris. The grain and stock, and in many cases 
the buildings of the husbandmen were swept onward toward 
the gulf. In St. Louis the water rose In many of the hous- 
es, but just as the thoroughly frightened inhabitants were 
about to abandon their homes, the river began to subside. 
At Ste. Genevieve, the flood worked such havoc that the 
old town was abandoned for the present site, on higher 
ground. Cahokia and Kaskaskla were surrounded by water, 
but the dA^ellings were not deserted. The year passed into 
local history as "the year of the great waters." 

The winter of 1798-99 was one of unusual severity, 
and to it was given the title of "the year of the hard win- 
ter." 

The more important settlements made during the for- 
ty years of Spanish domination will now be mentioned: 



78 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

Vide Poche or Louisburg, afterwards called Caronde- 
let, in honor of Baron de Carondelet, was founded in 1767 
by Delor de Tregette. To-day it is a suburb of St. Louis. 

In 1776 Beaurosier Dunnegant made a settlement at 
Florissant, afterwards called St. Ferdinand in honor of the 
King of Spain. The original name of Florissant was subse- 
quently restored. 

Blanchette Chasseur, or "Blanchette the Hunter." in 
1768, attracted to the North side of the Missouri River by 
the superior advantages for hunting and trapping, built a 
cabin on the farther shore, and a year later established 
there a post called Les Petites Cotes (The Little Hills), 
subsequently St. Andrews, and now St. Charles. This was 
the first settlement within that portion of the commonwealth 
North of the Missouri. 

Early in the Spanish regime a fcrt was built on the 
present site of New Madrid, and in 1781 a village was laid 
out about the stoclcade. It was named in honor of the cap- 
ital of Spain. 

For the most part, the Spanish domination over Mis- 
souri was uneventful. The great War of Independence oc- 
curred during this period, and this conflict between the 
American colonies and the mother country brought about 
an att'ack on St. Louis, which will next receive our attention. 



ATTACK ON ST. LOUIS AND OTHER EVENTS. 79 




ATTACK ON ST. LOUIS AND OTHER EVENTS. 

N 1778, Captain George Rogers Clark, of the Amer- 
ican army, made a descent upon Cahokia and Kas- 
kaskia, capturing both posts, This was the first 
forceful realization of the existence of a war be- 
tween the colonists and Great Britain that had come to the 
inhabitants of the Mississippi Valley. Hitherto rumors of 
the struggle had been as tidings of a war beyond the At- 
lantic. The settlers in Missouri, being subjects of the 
King of Spain, were not directly concerned in the conflict. 
But they were French. The English people were their bit- 
terest enemies. Hence it was natural that their sympa- 
thies should be enlisted with the Continentals, though it is 
true that prior to the outbreak of the Revolutionary V/ar 
they had looked upon the latter also as subjects of the Eng- 
lish crown — hence their enemies. But the alliances be- 
tween America and France, and France and Spain brought 
Louis XV and Charles III into war wiih the old-time ene- 
mies of Louisiana, hence the new settlements West of the 
Mississippi were technically involved in the struggle. 

Fears that an attack would be made upon Captain 
Clark at the captured posts, and thereby bring the war di- 
rectly home to the inhabitants of Louisiana, were enter- 
tained. The proximity of one combatant might bring the 
other. But, to the intense relief of all the settlers, in 1780. 
the captain marched upon St. Vincent (now Vmcennes, In- 



80 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

diana), and after toiling for days through icy floods and 
miry swanips, surprised and captured Colonel Henry Ham- 
ilton, the commander at that post. This affair has always 
been regarded as one of the most brilliant of that memora- 
ble struggle during which our forefathers laid broad and 
deep the foundation stones upon which has since been 
reared the glorious superstructure of the American Repub- 
lic. It was through the representations of Francis Vigo, a 
trader from St. Louis, that this attack was made, 

This daring feat, with the intelligence of the capture of 
the British post at Baton Rouge by a detachment of Span- 
iards, caused a plan for the capture of St. Louis to be form- 
ulated in Canada. The attack was not to be made by Eng- 
lish soldiers, but by Ojibway, Winnebago, Sioux and other 
Indians. A man named Ducharme, a French Canadian, 
who, some years before, had been caught trading with the 
natives in Spanish territory and his goods confiscated, was 
the prime mover in the proposed expedition. A force of 
Indians, variously estimated from nine hundred to fifteen 
hundred, under the leadership of a British officer, set out 
from Fort Michilimackinac early in the spring of 1780. 
While the attack was to be made by red men, the British, 
it was confidently expected, would harvest all the benefits 
of the undertaking. 

The first warning of impending danger came from Vi- 
go on his return from St. Vincent. Colonel Ham Iton was 
concerned In the expedition as planned, and it was expected 
to march by way of his post. Somehow, subsequently to 
his surrender, the story leaked out. Upon the reception of 
the news, all was consternation at the capitol of Upper 
Louisiana. 

The settlement was unfortified, but it was agreed thai 
at once should preparations for defense begin. A low line 
of breastworks, consisting of logs and brush, filled in With 
clay, was built about the town, beginning on the North at 



ATTACK ON ST. LOUIS AND OTHER EVENTS. 81 

or near Franklin Avenue, thence extending West to Broad- 
way and South to Poplar Street, forming an irregular semi- 
circle with the ends terminating at the river. The line was 
pierced by three gates, one at either end and the third near 
the center, At the head of Walnut Street a stone fort was 
begun. A small brass cannon was placed at either gate, 
and a fourth in the unfinished fort. Ste. Genevieve, learn- 
ing of the threatened attack, sent a small detachment of 
troops, under the command of Lieutenant Francisco de 
Cartebona, to assist in the defense 

So often was the alarm repeated, and so often had the 
expected attack failed to materialize, that the villagers grew 
careless and indifferent and the rumors were regarded as 
mere canards. The vigilance was relaxed, the sentinels 
became less alert, and a general air of fancied security pre- 
vailed. The honorable treatment the natives had received 
at the hands of the French and the Spanish would, it was 
confidently believed, secure immunity from danger. Little 
wot the villagers of the insidious enemy with whom they 
had to deal. For several years British agents had labored 
to incite a concerted Indian attack upon the American col- 
onies from the rear. 

Two stories of an unheeded warning of the proximity 
of a large force of red warriors are told. We give both. 

On the 24th of May, 1780, an old citizen of St, Louis, 
Quenelle by name, crossed the river at Cahokia Creek to 
try his skill as a disciple of Izaak Walton upon the finny in- 
habitants of that stream. While watching his lines, a man 
whom he recognized as Ducharme, appeared on the oppo- 
site bank of the creek and endeavored to induce Quenelle 
to come over to him. But the fisherman thought he de- 
tected Indians among the bushes and refused to cross the 
stream. Hastening home, he related what had occurred, 
But the commandant. General Leyba, ridiculed the idea of 
an Indian force being near, nor was danger apprehended by 
any of the villagers to whom the story was told. 



82 CLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

The second account has it that beside Ducharme 
there were three other white men — Langdon, Calve, and 
Jean Quenelle — with the savages. Quenelle had a brother 
Pierre in St. Louis, and after dusk on the day preceding 
the attack Jean tramped to that settlement to warn Pierre. 
But the latter merely laughed at the story — he had heard 
such an one before, — and refused to flee, as his brother 
urged. After Jean had departed, Pierre related to the 
commandant what he had heard. But Leyba exclaimed 
"Pooh!" and gave the story no more thought. So which- 
ever is the correct version, the warning of Quenelle came 
to naught. 

So many of these rumors had proven false that the 
settlers ceased to heed them and again cultivated the fields 
more distant from the fort, going farther and farther out 
for that purpose. In La Grande Prairie, La Prairie de Cul 
de Sac, and La Prairie des Noyers tillers of the soil were 
busy, though following the custom of the day, they kept 
their loaded rifles close at hand. These were far beyond 
the limits of the village — as far as the Fair Grounds and 
Forest Park are from Broadway. 

The 25th of May was Corpus Christi, observed by ev- 
ery devout Catholic with religious ceremonies and rejoic- 
ing. In the early morning every villager had attended 
mass in the little chapel, and heard the service read by 
Father Bernard, a Capuchin priest; had told his beads, de- 
voutly bent his knees and made the sign of the cross. 
Then the women, children, and some of the men gaily 
tramped far out on the commons, gathering the strawber- 
ries, then lusciously ripe, and culling bouquets of early spring 
flowers. What a day for a massacre! 

In the shaded recesses of the forests hovered armed 
and painted savages, who, as they observed the reckless 
abandon of fair women and prattling children, grasped fierce- 
ly the tomahawk and scalping-knife and gave vent to gutteJr- 



ATTACK ON ST. LOUIS AND OTHER EVENTS. 83 

al grunts of anticipation. But fortunately, only reconnol- 
tering parties had crossed the river, and the attack was de- 
layed until the ensuing day. The warriors returned to their 
comrades, and in the breast of no settler lurked a suspicion 
that on that day the forests had hidden the gliding forms of 
pitiless enemies. 

At early dawn on the 26th, every savage, hideous with 
ochre and vermilion, was astir. Canoe after canoe, each with 
its gunwales almost awash from its burden of living freight, 
pushed out from the Eastean shore of the great Father of 
Waters. The savage force disembarked at what is now 
called Bremen. Again and again did the canoes bring over 
their loads, until all the dusky warriors were gathered upon 
the Missouri shore. Then began their stealthy march 
through the wilderness. Their design was to surround the 
village and capture it by surprise. The four white men, 
having no heart for the contemplated butchery, remained 
behind. 

At Cardinal Spring, near the fair grounds, the skulking 
savages came upon an old man, Jean Cardinal, working far 
afield. He was killed and scalped. Farther on, they cap- 
tured Batiste Riviere, whose life was spared. Pressing on 
across La Grande Prairie, where several settlers were at 
work tilling the soil, the invaders killed and scalped, or cap- 
tured, whomsoever they found. Few women and children 
were abroad. The sound of the firing alarmed those near- 
er the village, and with fleeing steps they hastened to places 
of safety. At a point near the Northeast corner of Forest 
Park. Francis Hebert was killed. No depredations were 
committed nearer the village. 

The first of the fleeing settlers, stumbling half dead 
from fright and exhaustion into the North gate of the vil- 
lage, told the meaning of the firing which had been faintly 
heard. Colonel Auguste Chouteau and a dozen other har- 
dy frontiersmen seized their rifles and flew to the assistance 



84 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

of those who were hastening to the fort. Numbers of In- 
dians were in wild pursuit. As they emerged from the tim- 
ber into the clearing which, after the custom of frontier set- 
tlements, surrounded the town, their dusky forms came in- 
to plain view. But a few well-directed shots from the un- 
erring rifles of Chouteau and his men stretched a few of 
the redskins upon the green sward and checked the impet- 
uosity of the attack until the imperiled husbandmen and 
their families reached the shelter of the friendly walls. 
Quickly was the artillery manned, for it was seen that the 
enemy were gathering for a rush. Their main body moved 
directly toward the central gate. It was agreed to let the 
savages approach within easy range and then open upon 
them with cannon and rifles. But while the Indians were 
yet a quarter of a mile away, some nervous hand applied 
the match to the gun. The grape with which the piece 
was loaded tore up the earth in their front, but not one of 
the howling savages was struck. That one shot, however, 
misdirected as it was, served well its purpose. Dismayed, 
the redskins halted, and anxiously discussed the unexpected 
reception. They had hoped to take the town by surprise, 
but instead they found it defended by cannon, with which 
they were unaccustomed. This disconcerted them. They 
hesitated, and then fled. No pursuit was attempted. The 
strength of the defendants, barely one hundred and fifty ca- 
pable of bearing arms, forbade that, but in a few hours not 
an enemy remained upon the Missouri side. 

In the meantime, what of Leyba, the Spanish com- 
mandant? He was worse panic-stricken than any old wo- 
man. In the midst of a drunken debauch when the news 
of the attack came to him, he locked himself in his room 
at the government house, nor did he venture therefrom un- 
til the echo of the last rifle had died away in the distance. 
Nor did Lieutenant Cartabona and his soldiers any better. 
With the first alarm, they made a mad dash for the tower, 
climbed to its highest point, and there shivered in terror 
until all danger was past. 



ATTACK ON ST. LOUIS AND OTHER EVENTS. 85 

As the foes fled. Governor Leyba appeared upon the 
scene. If tradition is to be credited, his conduct then was 
most despicable and treacherous. "He immediately or- 
dered several pieces of ordnance, which had been placed 
near the government house, to be spiked, and was then 
rolled to the immediate scene of action in a wheel-barrow. 
He ordered the inhabitants to cease firing and return to 
their houses. Those stationed near the lower gates, not 
hearing the command, paid no attention to it, and he di- 
rected a cannon to be fired at them. This barbarous or- 
der was carried out, the citizens only escaping the volley 
of grape by throwing themselves upon the ground, while the 
shot struck down a portion of the wall."* The indignant 
settlers at once transmitted to the governor-general at New 
Orleans a full report of the extraordinary conduct of Leyba, 
in consequence of which he was deposed and Cruzat rein- 
stated as commandant. Within a year Leyba died, it is 
said from the effects of poison administered by his own 
hand, owing to the general obloquy and reproach with 
which he was held by his own people. 

As a result of this attack upon St. Louis, some twenty 
or thirty of the villagers were killed and as many more 
carried away into captivity, some of whom were afterwards 
recovered. Locally, 1780 passed into history as "I'annee 
du coup," the year of the attack. 

In the year 1787 there was located at the mouth of 
Cottonwood Creek, below St. Louis, a band of pirates 
headed by two men named Culbert and Magilbray. These 
river bandits levied tribute on all barges that passed. One 
belonging to M. Beausoiiel set out from New Orleans, rich- 
ly laden with merchandise. Near the mouth of the creek 
named, the barge was tied up for the night. While the 
crew were smoking and watching the dancing of Casotte. 
the negro cook, they suddenly found themselves in the 
hands of the pirates. Culbert enjoyed a frolic himself, and 
after the crew were secured, he ordered Casotte to proceed 

* Davis and Diirrie's History of Missouri, 



86 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

with his dancing while he and his freebooters imbibed free- 
ly of the choice wines and brandy which formed part of the 
cargo of the barge. Fast and furious was the fun until 
Culbert and his men were more or less intoxicated, many 
in a death-like stupor, A'hen Casotte manoeuvered so as 
to knock several of them off into the river. A few of the 
imprisoned crew were released, and the remainder of the 
pirates were tumbled uncermoniously into the stream. 
The greater part of them, including Culbert, were drowned, 
or shot as they attempted to climb back on the barge. 
Then the boat turned about and hastened to New Orleans. 
The governor the next spring issued an order that there- 
after all boats bound for St. Louis should travel in company 
for mutual protection. Shortly afterwards the arrival of 
ten barges at one time caused a season of prolonged re- 
joicing at St. Louis. 

In 1799, Delassus, the last Spanish governor of Mis- 
souri, caused a census of the settlements of upper Louisiana 
to be taken. The population of the different towns was 
found to be as follows: Ste. Genevieve, 949; St. Louis, 
925; Carondelet, 184; St. Charles, 875; St. Ferdinand, 
276; Marius des Liard, 376 : Meramec, 115; St. Andrews 
393; New Bourbon, 560; New Madrid, 782; Little Mead- 
ows, 72 : total, 6.028, Total number of whites, 4,948; free 
colored. 197; slaves, 883. 

Note. — It is proper to state that wiiiie some aiitliorities assert 
tliat the expedition against St. Louis was led by a British ofticer, 
as we have given in the text, others claim that the expedition 
was entirely in the hands of the red men. It is also claimed by 
some that Ducharnie participated in the attack on St. Louis, re- 
ceiving a severe wound. 



LIFE UNDER THE FRENCH AND THE SPANISH REGIMES. 87 




LIFE UNDER THE FRENCH AND THE SPANISH 
REGIMES. 

E HAVE now traced the history of the com- 
monwealth of Missouri to the close of the 
eighteenth century. With the opening of the 
nineteenth came a new regime, one which has 
withstood the vicissitudes of a hundred years, and which 
has witnessed the development of the State from an unset- 
tled and unexplored wilderness to the fifth in the Union in 
respect to population. Before narrating the momentous 
events which brought about on successive days two trans- 
fers of ownership in the territory now included in Missouri 
(in commemoration of which preparations are now making 
to hold in the metropolis of the district two years hence an 
international exposition), we shall direct our attention to the 
life and social conditions of the colonists. 

Primitive in the extreme were the customs of the in- 
habitants of Missouri during the eighteenth century. Res- 
idents of a wilderness, good-natured, easy-living, they had 
the manners of children. These simple French (for as we 
have stated, Spain contributed little to the population) were 
uncontaminated by the arts and the affectations of civiliza- 
tion. There were no public schools and few religious or- 
ganizations. The virtue of these early settlers was pro- 
verbial; their honesty beyond question; their social functions 
crude; and they were simple to a fault. For lawyers, sher- 
iffs, notaries public, and civil tribunals they had no use. 



88 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

It is remarkable that during the latter half of the eighteenth 
century, there was not left on record a single instance of 
delinquency, civil or criminal. 

The French settlers gathered into compact little vil- 
lages, consisting usually of a single street, along either side 
of which were erected the dwellings. These were quaint 
in appearance and peculiar in construction, and stood so 
close together that from their own doorway the members of 
any family could hold easy converse with their neighbors 
upon either hand. Back of each house was a little field, 
long and narrow, cultivated by the occupants. A large 
tract of unenclosed land furnished common pasturage for 
all. This tract was usually known as "The Common." 
When a couple married, a portion of the uncultivated land 
was assigned them, and as soon as the honeymoon had 
waned, the men of the village turned out to assist the young 
husband in the erection of his dwelling. This was a rude 
affair, one story in height, and partly surrounded by sheds 
or lean-tos. In the ground was planted a frame-work of 
posts held together by a large number of horizontal strips 
and firmly braced at the corners. The whole was plastered 
inside and out with "cat and clay" (grass or hair and mud), 
and covered with many coats of whitewash. The thatched 
roof usually projected over wide verandas added to one or 
more sides of the building. Indeed the more pretentious 
dwellings had verandas on all sides. Towards the close of 
the century, clapboards were used for roofing. The floors 
were made of puncheons or slabs hewn from logs, while 
the chimneys were built of sticks, like a pen, and plastered. 
No locks secured the doors — there was need of none; nor 
was there any glass in the windows, though sometimes well 
oiled paper let in a soft, translucent light. A rough picket 
fence enclosed each little homestead. The land had no 
value, hence it was neither bought nor sold. Rent was 
practically unknown. 



LIFE UNDER THE FRENCH AND THE SPANISH REGIMES. 89 

Tradition has it that some of the banished Acadlans 
found new homes among the colonists in the inviting dells 
of Louisiana, and it is of such dwellings as above described 
that Longfellow speaks in his splendid poem founded upon 
this tragedy in the lives of these simple peasants: 

"Strongly built were the houses, with frames of oak and hemlock, 
Such as the peasants of Normandy built in the reign of the Henrys, 
Thatched were the roofs, with dormer windows, while j(ables pro- 
jecting 
Over the basement below, protected and shaded the doorway." 

Except such as the grandees brought with them from 
the mother-country, rich and handsome clothing was un- 
known. The attire of the men consisted of homespun 
trousers, coarse blue woolen shirts, and a long cloak with 
pointed hood. In winter or on hunting expeditions, a coon- 
skin cap, deerskin leggings, and a hunting shirt of skins 
were added. The women wore a dress of calico or Span- 
ish cloth, made with full skirt and short waist. A Spanish 
capote was thrown over the shoulders and a handkerchief 
tied about the neck. Both men and women wore beaded 
and embroidered moccasins. 

From the first arrival of the French in the Mississippi 
Valley, they gave their attention largely to agricultural pur- 
suits. No isle of Greece nor cycle of Cathay can surpass 
in fertility the region comprising the Louisiana territory. 
A rival in the productiveness of the wondrous lotus-land of 
Cleopatra, is the splendid plain drained by the broad Father 
of Waters and his tributaries. The farmer tickled the face 
of Mother Earth with his hoe and she smiled forth in prolif- 
ic abundance. As the forests abounded in game, want in 
the settlements was practically unknown. To this fertility 
of the soil and abundance of game was due the exemption 
of Upper Louisiana from the oft-recurring seasons of scarci- 
ty to which the inhabitants of New Orleans and the settlers 
along the Gulf were subject. Indeed as early as 1721, 



90 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

Charlevoix, the great historian of early Louisiana, says that 
the French about Kaskaskia were "living pretty much at 
their ease." In 1743, boats laden with "flour, com, bacon 
hams (of both bear and hog), corned pork, wild beef, myr- 
tle, beeswax, cotton, tallow, leather, tobacco, lead, copper, 
buffalo-wool, venison, poultry, bear's grease, oil, skins, 
fowls, and hides," came down the river to New Orleans. 
A varied and extensive show for a newly-settled region, but 
Captain Pittman, who traveled up the river about 1770, 
adds to the list beer and wines. 

Primitive indeed, and usually of home make, were 
their farming implements. A forked tree, cut off near the 
point of branching, served as a plow. To one fork, left 
long enough to answer for a pole or beam, was attached a 
yoke of oxen; while the other, left about two foot in length 
and the end sharpened, formed the shovel with which the 
earth was stirred. A pair of rough handles fastened to the 
top completed the crude implement. Each morning during 
the summer months saw a cheery procession of French 
carts from the village to the fields. The laborers took their 
dinners with them and remained afield until nightfall. At 
the harvesting season the entire family usually assisted in 
gathering in the grain, — for the pioneer women were robust 
and it was no uncommon thing to see matron and maid at 
work in the little fields beside husband or brother. After 
the busy season passed, the villagers gave themselves no 
further anxiety, but devoted their days and a portion of the 
nights to pleasure. 

As the colonists were all related by ties of consanguin- 
ity or marriage, social distinctions were unknown. If the 
wealthy or the intelligent were the recipients of a trifle more 
consideration, it was only a personal compliment and im- 
plied no social pre-eminence. At the fireside, at church, 
in their labors, they met upon absolute equality. Cut off 
from Quebec and New Orleans by thousands of miles of 



LIFE UNDER THE FRENCH AND THE SPANISH REGIMES. 91 

all but impassible barriers, innovations were rare and prog- 
ress slow. Each did as his father had done before him, no 
matter how crude or unsatisfactory the method. Their 
wants were few and easily supplied. Not many could read 
and write, yet Stoddard admits rather unwillingly that they 
were "apparently the happiest people upon the globe." 

Litigation and crimes against the person were rare. 
At first the lieutenant-governor constituted the sole tribunal 
for the adjudication of all cases, civil and criminal; but af- 
ter 1794 an intendant (a sort of adjunct to the governor, 
having limited jurisdiction in both civil and military affairs) 
was appointed. From the decisions of the two officials ap- 
peals were made to the governor-general at New Orleans. 

Says Francis Parkman of these early settlers: "The 
people labored long enough to gain a bare subsistence for 
each passing day, and spent their time in dancing and mer- 
ry-making, smoking, gossiping and hunting. Their native 
gayety was irrepressible, and they found means to stimulate 
it with vine made from the fruit of the grapevine. Thus 
they passed their days, at peace with themselves, hand and 
glove with their Indian neighbors, and ignorant of all the 
world beside. Money was scarcely known among them. 
Skins and furs were the prevailing currency, and in every 
village a great portion of the land was held in common,"* 

Among the amusements was one known as the "king's 
ball." It was held annually, and with eager anticipation 
was it looked forward to by young and old. Every inhabit- 
ant of the settlement made it a duty to attend. Bond and 
free, priest and layman, old and young, red man and white, 
were there. Before the dancing began, divine blessing up- 
on the amusements was invoked. A leading feature of this 
ball was the cutting of a large cake in which four beans had 
been concealed. Only the men participated, and each of 
those lucky enough to find a bean in his portion served as 

* Conspiracy of Pontiac, Vol. 11. 



92 CLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

"king" at the next annual ball. And it was no uncommon 
spectacle at these festivities to see a bronzed trapper or 
voyageur, in buckskin raiment, with fringed leggins and moc- 
casins, and coonskin cap with pendant tail: while at his 
heels trooped his Indian wife and a half-dozen half-breed 
children. 

For some years St. Louis and Carondelet struggled 
for commercial supremacy. But an interchange of social 
courtesies between the rivals was maintained. St. Louis 
swains wooed Carondelet damsels, and many were the Car- 
ondelet men who breathed life's sweetest story to willing 
ears in the shadows of St. Louis verandas. It is told that 
the citizens of the lower settlement exceled at cards and 
dice — resorting, it was alleged, to Ah Sin's methods. Their 
neighbors at St. Louis often challenged them to a trial of 
their skill, and many a winter's evening was spent at cards 
or dominoes. More or less worldly wealth were staked on 
these contests, and so often did the Carondelet players 
come out victors that the defeated bestowed upon that town 
the name Vide Poche (Empty Pocket), as this term so fit- 
tingly described their own condition as homeward they dis- 
comfitly wended their way. In retaliation, the populace of 
the Southern settlement gave to the home of their less for- 
tunate opponents the title of Pain Court {Dry Bread), be- 
cause it could not maintain a public bakery where fresh 
bread could be obtained at all times. By these appellations 
the respective towns for years were widely known, 

With these early settlers, hospitality was a duty. There 
were no inns or taverns, but to the traveler or the stranger 
every latchstring hung out, and it was regarded as almost 
an insult to offer a host pay for entertainment. Once an 
Englishman, going down the river in his boat, landed at St. 
Louis. Approaching a group of people in front of a house, 
he asked to be directed to a tavern. To his astonishment, 
he was told that the settlement contained none. 



I 



LIFE UNDER THE FRENCH AND THE SPANISH REGIMES. 93 

"No tavern!" cried the Englishman. "Then where 
am I to sleep to-night?" 

"There are many houses here." was the reply. "You 
are welcome to sleep in any of them." 

Then it was the traveler discovered that the villagers 
were offering him the hospitality of their homes. 

The surplus products mentioned above were taken 
down the Mississippi in huge flat boats or keel boats. Going 
down stream was easy enough as the vessel, guided by 
sweeps or large oars simply floated with the current. The 
return trip, however, was another matter. Laden with sup- 
plies and stores for the colonists, the heavy and unwieldy 
boat was laboriously cordelled up the swiftly-flowing stream. 
That is, the boatmen walked along the shore and by means 
of a long rope made fast to the barge, pulled it slowly home- 
ward.' One or two persons were left on board to steer. Or 
the rope ^vas made fast to a tree far up stream and the men 
on board slowly propelled the boat along by pulling in the 
rope. When the wind was favorable, sails were brought 
into use. In this way many a weary day passed before the 
boatmen were again cheered by a glimpse of home. Not 
the least of the hardships of such a voyage was the frequen- 
cy of Indian attacks. 

An amusing story is told of an Irishman who obtained 
permission to work his passage up from New Orleans. Put- 
ting his carpetbag aboard, he went far ahead with the men 
and helped tow the heavy craft upstream. After several 
miles of such navigation, he was heard to soliloquize: 

"Faith, an' if it was n't for the name of riding, I'd as 
soon walk." 

The religious practices of the French settlers were cu- 
rious — some of them wholly foreign to the ideas of persons 
educated under the Puritanical tenets of New England. 
To those who had always seen the Sabbath given up whol- 
ly to religious services and to the study of the Catechism, 



94 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

it seemed sacrilegious for the major part of the first day 
of the week to be devoted to balls and other forms of worid- 
ly amusements. Stoddard, who remarks that their levity 
borders on licentiousness, admits that the settlers avoided 
all manner of intemperance and always conducted them- 
selves with proper decorum. "When questioned in rela- 
tion to their gayety on Sundays, they will answer that men 
were made for happiness, and that the more they are able 
to enjoy themselves the more acceptable they are to their 
Creator. They are of the opinion that a sullen countenance, 
an attention to gloomy subjects, a set form of speech, and 
a stiff behavior are much more indicative of hypocrisy than 
of religion; and they have often remarked that those who 
practice these singularities on Sundays will most assuredly 
cheat and defraud their neighbors during the rest of the 
week."* 

Captain Stoddard was particularly impressed with the 
vivacity of the French, which, he says, is peculiar to this 
people, "and in no situation does it wholly forsake them. 
To this may be ascribed their passion for social intercourse, 
which is always gratified when opportunity permits. They 
are particularly attached to the exercise of dancing, and 
carry it to an incredible excess. Neither the severity of 
the cold nor the oppression of the heat ever restrains them 
from this amusement, which usually commences early in 
the evening and is seldom suspended until late the next 
morning. They even attend the balls, not unfrequently, for 
two or three days in succession and without the least ap- 
parent fatigue. At this exercises the females, in particu- 
lar, are extremely active, and those in the United States 
must submit to be called their inferiors." 

With the general habits of the inhabitants of Louisiana, 
Stoddard was favorably impressed. He writes that they 

*Sketches Historical and Descriptive, by Captain Amos Stod- 
dard, of tlie United States Army. 



LIFE UNDER THE FRENCH AND THE SPANISH REGIMES. 95 

limited the desires of their appetites to vegetables, soups 
and coffee. They were "great smokers of tobacco, and 
no doubt this gives a yellow tinge to their skin." Ardent 
spirits were seldom used except by the most laborious 
classes. Even white wines were discarded. Great econ- 
omy was displayed in the family meals, because they 
reasoned that the climate and their robust constitutions 
did not demand any more than simple food. On occasions 
when strangers of distinction graced their boards, amends 
were made for their every-day simplicity. Then the tables 
were covered with a great variety of foods, served in a 
multiplicity of ways. Many of these sumptuous entertain- 
ments cost from $250 to $400. 

That wedded life among these early Missourians was 
as uncertain and wedding bells sometimes as greatly out 
of tune as they are in these twentieth century days is at- 
tested by a story told of Captain de Volsay when he came 
to die. His wife was the daughter of De Villlers, the last 
French commandant of Fort Chartres. Connubial felicity 
had fled from their home and for some years prior to the 
captain's death his wife had resided at New Orleans while 
his home was in St. Louis. A liberal allowance had been 
set aside for her maintenance, but an hour or two before 
breathing his last Captain de Volsay sent in haste for a 
notary and had this codicil added to his last will and testa- 
ment: 

"In addition to the provision of separate maintenance 
made for my beloved wife, Elizabeth Coulon de Volsay, nee 
De Villiers, and in addition to the provision already made 
for her in this, my last will and testament, I hereby give 
and bequeath her, for her own proper use. five pair of my 
best breeches, to be selected from the stock 1 leave on 
hand." The document was duly signed and witnessed. 

Then the good captain smiled at his great joke and 
fell back upon his pillow. A moment later he was dead. 



96 CLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

It is related that even with the well-to-do, carpets were 
unknown. The hard floors were waxed once a week and 
polished daily. Excepting an occasional mahogany side- 
board or table brought from France, the furniture was of 
home manufacture. Slaves, even in that early day, were 
by no means uncommon, and they seem to have received 
considerate treatment at the hands of their French mas- 
ters. 

Couched in the quaint French of the period, an old 
record bears this upon one of its first pages: "On the 20th 
of the month, April, 1766, there were married Toussaint 
Hasien and Marie Baugenou, in St. Louis, being the first 
marriage in that place." Doubtless the bride looked very 
sweet and perfect in the eyes of her lover. Her dress was 
of home-spun of her own make, a bit of crimson ribbon 
wound in and out of the tresses of her dark brown hair, and 
a bunch of wild flowers at her throat was her only bridal 
bouquet. The groom wore a suit of yellow buckskin, or- 
namented with fringes. The ceremony was at the resi- 
dence of Colonel Chouteau. Every villager was present. 
Father Gibault married them according to the rites of the 
Catholic church. After the nuptials, refreshments of a 
solid nature were served. Then came the indispensible 
frolic, joined in by all except the old and decrepit; when the 
fiddles were scraped until the gray dawn of approaching day 
dispelled the mists from the American Bottoms, and moc- 
casined feet danced deftly in time to the music. 

These early settlers were intensely devout. Each 
village had its priest and its church edifice. The priest 
attended every festivity and amusement. His blessing was 
invoked before the dance began. On Sunday morning 
every villager attended mass, after which he discussed 
social and business matters and closed bargains. Con- 
tracts made on Sundays in the presence of the priest were 
as binding as though in writing and placed on record. In- 



LIFE UNDER THE FRENCH AND THE SPANISH REGIMES. 97 

deed in all important matters, both spiritual and temporal, 
the priest was always the first to be consulted. 

The French settlers were not noted for their industry, 
nor were they thrifty husbandmen. Their method of culti- 
vating the soil was simple and primitive, and they them- 
selves have been pronounced lazy and improvident. Yet 
from these early French sprang some of the most eminent 
and successful of Missouri's present citizens. 

On the 16th of May, 1803, the expedition under Lew- 
is and Clark stopped at St. Charles, a typical French fron- 
tier settlement, twenty-one miles above St. Louis. Con- 
cerning its inhabitants, the following entry is found in their 
journal: 

"The inhabitants, about 450 in number, are chiefly 
descendants from the French of Canada, in their man- 
ners they unite all the careless gayety and amiable hospi- 
tality of the best times of France. Yet, like most of their 
countrymen in America, they are but little qualified for the 
rude life of the frontier, — not that they are without talent, 
for they possess much natural genius and vivacity; not that 
they are destitute of enterprise, for their hunting excursions 
are long, laborious and hazardous; but their exertions are 
all desultory; their industry without system and without per- 
severance. The surrounding country, therefore, though 
rich, is not generally well cultivated; the inhabitants chiefly 
subsist by hunting and trade with the Indians, and confine 
their culture to gardening, in which they excel." 

Flour-mills and saw-mills were erected at an early 
date, but the only other manufactured articles were the 
products of the spinning-wheel and the hand-loom. The 
greater part of the cloth from which clothing was made was 
brought from Philadelphia and Baltimore. Many common 
implements were unknown. Even so simple an article as 
a churn was not in use; those who enjoyed the luxury of 
butter obtained it by shaking the cream in a bottle. 



98 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

Of course the greater part of the settlers were Catho- 
lics, but they were not disposed to interfere with the relig- 
ious rights of others. They were far more liberal than their 
laws It is related that when Abraham Musick, a sturdy 
Baptist, applied for permission to "hold meeting" at his 
house. Governor Trudeau answered: "It cannot be granted, 
as it is a violation of the law. What I mean," he added, 
"is that you must not put a bell on your house and call it a 
church, nor suffer any one to christen your children but the 
parish priest; but if any of your friends choose to meet at 
your house, sing, pray, and talk about religion, you will not 
be molested, provided you continue, as I suppose you are, 
good Catholics." Trudeau well knew that as Baptists they 
did not believe in infant baptism, nor did they require the 
ringing of a bell to remind them of the time and place of 
their religious services. 

John Clark, an eccentric preacher residing in Illinois, 
made monthly excursions into Spanish territory. He was 
much respected by all, even by Commandant Trudeau him- 
self. Every month the latter, when the end of Clark's itin- 
erary was known to be drawing near, would send a message 
to the effect that if Monsieur Clark did not leave the Span- 
ish territory within three days he would be imprisoned! 
This was repeated so often that it became a standing joke 
of the settlements. 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 99 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 
I. 

HOW AMERICA WAS INDUCED TO BUY. 




RULY an interesting chapter of the indebtedness 
of the United States to France for their explora- 
tion, their settlement, their development, their 
origin, and their expansion, might be written. 
Says the historian, Thiers, in speaking of the sale of Louis- 
iana by Bonaparte to the young Republic, "The United 
States are indebted for their birth and for their greatness to 
the long struggle between France and England." We have 
already seen how the fearless French uoyageurs and cour- 
rieurs du bois braved the hidden dangers of forest and lake 
and stream to widen the boundaries of the fur industry; 
how shoulder to shoulder with them went capoted priest 
bearing to the fierce natives the gospel of the lowly Naza- 
rene. Together these antipodal companions suffered all 
the horrible tortures that savage ingenuity can devise. 

To the narrow confines of the strip bounded by the 
Atlantic and the Alleghanies. the sluggish Britons confined 
their energies; the cupidity and the impotence of the Span- 
iards limited their search to gold fields rivaling in yield the 
fabulous riches of the mines of Golconda. To neither of 
these people are the Mississippi Valley and the Great West 
indebted. Of the aid rendered the struggling Republic by 
Rochampeau and de Grasse we are not here concerned 
except to mention that it was an important factor in the 
birth of our nation. 



100 CLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

It is now our province to take up the story of the sale 
of Louisiana to the United States, and to look into the 
causes which brought about this cession so profoundly ef- 
fecting the destinies of the youthful nation. 

With the dawning of the nineteenth century came the 
ascendancy of Napoleon. This young diplomat, after the 
brilliant conclusion of the Italian campaign, had been ad- 
vanced to the Dictatorship and was dreaming of an invin- 
cible European empire with himself at its head — a dream 
that a decade later was all but realized. The treaty of II- 
defonso. however bitter its provisions may have been to 
Spain, had been forced upon that humbled and degenerate 
kingdom. By it, all the vast American territory known as 
Louisiana — its undefined boundaries yet a matter of specu- 
lation — had been receded to France; and in return the 
Prince of Parma, a son-in-law of the Spanish sovereign, 
was to be firmly established in the province of Tuscany. 
This treaty was concluded upon the first day of October, 
1800, but for reasons hereafter to be explained, its terms 
were kept secret.* 

Two conditions made easier to the proverbial Spanish 
"honor" the enforced transfer of Louisiana to France. 
One of these was the steady but irresistible encroachments 
of the American pioneers — the wilderness hunters and the 
seekers for new and better homes— upon the Spanish de- 
mesne. Already there had been two diplomatic tilts with 
the newly-established Republic. The first of these was 
over the Northern boundary of Florida, which, strangely 
enough, on the cession of that colony by England to Spain, 
had been left wholly undefined. The boundary for which 
the infant Republic contended was one hundred and ten 
miles farther South than that to which Spain claimed. 

* Indeed there were two treaties negotiated, Tlie first was by 
Bertiiier on October t, 1800, and tlie second by Lucien Bonaparte 
at Ildefonso on Marcii 21, ISOI. Of tliese we sliaii speak hereafter. 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 101 

Originally the Northern boundary of Florida was fixed at a 

line extending from the Mississippi to the Appalachicola 
along the 3 1st degree of North latitude. Afterwards, "in 
order to expedite the administration of justice in the Nachez 
district," the strip which later became the bone of conten- 
tion was added to the district. At the treaty closing the 
Revolutionary War, England had ceded to the United 
States the territory North of the 31st parallel, but on trans- 
ferring Florida to Spain the Northern limit was left unde- 
fined. Spain, of course, claimed that the Northern boun- 
dary was at the new line running due East from the mouth 
of the Yazoo. 

The other conflict was over the free navigation of the 
Mississippi. The people of the Ohio Valley demanded the 
privilege of boating their surplus products to New Orleans, 
a Spanish settlement, and there sell them or store them 
for shipment to Europe. This became another bone of se- 
rious contention. Spain strengthened her garrisons at 
Baton Rouge and Nachez, built a fort at Vicksburg, and 
subsequently one at New Madrid, on the Missouri side of 
the river. The latter was made a port of entry where all 
vessels were required to land and declare their cargoes. 
This imposition was galling to the men of the Western wa- 
ters. Long and bitter was the controversy over it. At 
length, in 1795. the prospect of a European war in which 
Spain and England would be arrayed upon opposite sides, 
and the advantage of the interposition of a neutral pow- 
er between Louisiana and Canada, caused the first na- 
tion to accede to the contentions of the Americans. The 
boundary was fixed at the 31st parallel, and permission giv- 
en the United States to use the port of New Orleans as a 
place of deposit for their products and merchandise and to 
export the same therefrom free of all duty. With a slight 
intermission (as we shall see later) this privilege, though at 
first conceded for the space of three years, was by tacit 
agreement extended to the close of the Spanish regime. 



102 CLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

The interposition of another nation between her South- 
western territory and the United States,, was the second 
consideration on the part of Spain for the recession of 
Louisiana to France. That nation realized in the closing 
years of the eighteenth century that the energy and the ag- 
gressiveness of the American people were not to. be barred 
by the Mississippi. Already scores of them had crossed 
over and were following their respective vocations as shunt- 
ers or traders among both white and red subjects. 

Let us pause a moment and learn the cause of this 
impingement of the Americans upon the farther bank of the 
Mississippi. In the settlement of the colonies, several Eu- 
ropean r>ations took part. There were the English on the 
Atlantic coast from Florida to Maine; in the middle of this 
long line were early settlements by Dutch and Swedes; on 
the North and West was New France, subjecting all at- 
tempts at expansion in either direction to the arbitrament 
of the sword; to the South and Southeast were vast tracts 
of land to which Spain, by right of discovery, laid claim. 
With the downfall of Quebec and the treaty following came 
the end of French domination in America for the time be- 
ing. Spain, as we have seen, had acquired the title to an 
undefined region West of the Mississippi. The English 
colonies had revolted against the despotic rule of the 
Georges, and after eight weary years of conflict and suffer- 
ing and deprivations, had wrested freedom from the haugh- 
ty Britons. Even before this glad result had been attained, 
the irrepressible spirit of the Cavalier and of the Puritan 
had carried numerous companies into the fertile fields be- 
yond the Alleghanies. Thither came Boone and Sevier 
and Robertson and scores of other hardy pioneers, and long 
and laboriously had they toiled in wresting the virgin v/ilds 
of Kentucky from the red hunter: while others pushed with 
axe and rifle into Ohio and Indiana. 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 103 

"Into the wilderness they came, 

The hardy pioneers; 
They wrought with courajce brave and true, 
And builded better than they knew 

For coming years." 

All these had forged Westward until the broad flood of 
the Mississippi rolled in sullen majesty at their feet. Be- 
yond was a land smiling in its verdure and inviting in its 
fertility and in its salubrity, but over it floated the red and 
yellow ensign of Spain. Little it mattered. To them the 
farther shore was a promised land. In every man's breast 
grew a determination to wrest it from the foreign claimants. 
Spain realized this better than did the Americans them- 
selves. Hence had she not been forced to recede Louisi- 
ana to Napoleon, in all probability a transfer directly to the 
United States would have been effected early in the cent- 
ury. And we may mention here that the astute Napoleon, 
too, understood this Western trend of civilization and early 
realized the impossibility of any foreign power holding 
peaceably for any length of time the vast trans-Mississippi 
wilderness. 

Actuated by these considerations, Spain, again making 
a virtue of necessity, transferred to the First Consul all of 
Louisiana, that vast tract hitherto so easy to acquire but so 
difficult to retain. 

In the agreement made in 1795, by which the Ameri- 
cans were given the free navigation of the Mississippi, and 
by which New Orleans was made a place of deposit for 
their merchandise pending sale or shipment abroad, the 
King of Spain "promised either to continue the permission, 
if he found during that time [three years] that it was not 
prejudicial to the interests of Spain; or if he should not 
agree to continue it there, he agreed to assign, on another 
part of the banks of the Mississippi, an equivalent estab- 
lishment." We have mentioned above that at the expira- 



104 CLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

tion of this term of three years the agreement was tacitly 
continued, until in October, 1802, the intendant. Morales, 
without the consent of, and indeed in opposition to the ad- 
vice of, the Spanish governor, canceled the right of deposit, 
and, refusing to name any other place, absolutely closed the 
Mississippi to the United States. This move worked a 
hardship to both parties, as it shut off the Americans from 
a market for their surplus products, and caused thereby a 
scarcity of provisions in New Orleans. A storm of indig- 
nation, not only against Spain, but also against France, en- 
sued, for by this time whispers of the retrocession to the 
latter nation had gone abroad, Governor Salcido promptly 
disavowed the act, but the intendant was quite independent 
of him. The people of the Western territories of the Re- 
public became incensed to such a degree that a conflict 
seemed inevitable. 

The matter now became one of diplomacy and states- 
manship. It was transferred to the halls of Congress and 
to the executive department of the nation. Thomas Jef- 
ferson, the third president, had been elected by the Repub- 
licans (now the Democratic party) in 1800, after the mem- 
orable contest in which he defeated Aaron Burr, in the 
House of Representatives, by just one vote. Jefferson 
was essentially a man of peace and an intense Republican. 
He was accused of undue friendship toward Revolutionary 
France. In 1794, and again in 1796, that nation had been 
a source of infinite trouble to Washington and Adams, and 
a declaration of war seemed imminent. Of these matters, 
it is not our province here to speak. The Republican party 
was charged with fostering the cause of Genet and other 
seditionists in the United States; the Federalist was a party 
of strong government, headed by Alexander Hamilton. In 
1796 this party had advocated the free navigation of the 
Mississippi while the Republicans opposed the scheme. 
The former won. We shall see presently how, in 1802, 
these parties exchanged positions on this question. 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 105 

"On October first. 1802, by the secret treaty of San 
Ildefonso, Spain gave back to France that portion of Louis- 
iana which, in 1762, France had given to her. It was long 
before the existence of the treaty was known; but the mo- 
ment it was known Jefferson saw most clearly that trouble 
with France was not at an end. There was, he said, one 
spot on the face of the earth so important to the United 
States that, whoever held it, was, for that very reason, nat- 
urally and forever our enemy; and that spot was New Or- 
leans. He could not, therefore, see it transferred to France 
but with deep regret. The day she look possession of the 
city the ancient friendship between her and the United 
States ended; alliance with Great Britain became neces- 
sary, and the sentence that was to keep France below low- 
water mark became fixed. The day seemed near at hand, 
for in November, 1802, word came that an expedition was 
making all haste to cross the ocean and occupy Louis- 
iana."* 

In the House of Representatives, the Federalists in- 
troduced resolutions which in substance were; That the 
United States were entitled to the free navigation of the 
Mississippi; that free navigation had been obstructed by the 
Spanish intendant; and that the duty of the House was to 
inquire how the right of deposit and navigation could be re- 
stored and maintained. This new zeal on the part of the 
Federalists who, in 1798, were eager to close the Missis- 
sippi for twenty-five years, alarmed the Republicans, and 
the resolutions were voted down. The latter party then 
voted a mild and peaceful resolution, lamenting the trouble, 
disclaiming any belief that Spain was an aggressor, and 
asserting a final determination to maintain the rights of 
navigation and deposit. 

* McMaster's History, Vol. II. 



106 CLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 




THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 
II. 

JEFFERSON AND EXPANSION. 

HILE Thomas Jefferson had a fair measure of 
respect for the constitution, he was far from 
regarding it with a blind homage, "as if it were 
the sacred principla of the national life." Tra- 
dition had not lent to it a sort of consecration, nor had the 
nation endured beneath it long enough to give it a reputa- 
tion. Besides, if the constitution proved too much of a fet- 
ter upon the people, they might at any time modify or ab- 
rogate it. This may partly account for his change cf views 
concerning the acquisition of territory, when it became nec- 
essary for him to uphold an act which seemed at variance 
to his previously expressed opinions. 

The earliest expressed views of Jefferson with refer- 
ence to both expansion and the troubles with the Spaniards, 
are found in a letter dated at Paris, January 25, 1786. Mr. 
Jefferson says: "Our confederacy must be viewed as the 
nest from which all America. North and South, is to be 
peopled. We should take care, too, not to think it for the 
interest of that great continent to press too soon on the 
Spaniards, Those countries cannot be in better hands. 
My fear is that they are too feeble to hold them till our pop- 
ulation can be sufficiently advanced to gain it from them 
piece by piece. The navigation of the Mississippi we must 
have. This is all we are as yet ready to receive." 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 107 

The broadest expansionist of the twentieth century is 
not liable to have a more radical view than the above. 

The threatened outbreak of hostilities between England 
and Spain caused Jefferson, on July 1 1, 1790, to write of 
the first nation: "Other symptoms indicate a general de- 
sign on all Louisiana and the two Florid as. What a tre- 
mendous position would success in these objects place us 
in! Embraced from the St. Croix to St. Mary's on the one 
side by their possessions, on the other by the-ir fleet, we 
need not hesitate to say that they would soon find means 
to unite to them all the territory covered by the ramifica- 
tions of the Mississippi." 

On August 2d of the same year, the Secretary of State 
was instructed to write to Carmichael, our minister at the 
court of Spain: "It is impossible to answer for the forbear- 
ance of our Western citizens. We endeavor to quiet them 
with the expectation of an attainment of their rights by 
peaceable means. But should they, in a moment of im- 
patience, hazard others, there is no saying how far we may 
be led; for neither themselves nor their rights will ever be 
abandoned by us." 

From these extracts it will be seen that Jefferson was 
perfectly cognizant of all the details of the troubles with 
Spain over the navigation of the Mississippi. In 1795, as 
we have seen, Pinckney and Godoy negotiated the treaty 
granting free navigation and deposit to the Americans for 
the term of three years. 

On January 26, 1799, Alexander Hamilton wrote the 
following significant letter, which seems to place him as the 
first statesman to suggest the acquisition by America of the 
whole of Louisiana: "As it is every moment possible that 
the project of taking possession of the Floridas and Louis- 
iana, long since attributed to France, may be attempted to 
be put into execution, it is very importantthat the executive 
should be clothed with power to meet and defeat so dai%er- 



108 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

ous an enterprise. Indeed, if it is the policy of France to 
leave us in a state of semi-hostility, it is preferable to term- 
inate it, and by taking possession of those countries for our- 
selves, to obviate the mischief of their falling into the hands 
of an active foreign power, and at the same time to secure 
to the United States the advantage of keeping the key to the 
Western country. I have long been in the habit of consid- 
ering the acquisition of those countries as essential to the 
permanency of the Union, which I consider as very impor- 
tant to the welfare of the whole." 

On March 4, 1801, Jefferson became president of the 
United States. Neither in his inaugural address, nor in the 
first annual message of the 8th of December following, is 
any reference made to the navigation troubles. During the 
first year of his term he expressed himself as having an 
affectionate disposition toward Spain. Yet Louisiana then, 
by the secret treaty of San lldefonso, was the territory of 
France. The first policy of Bonaparte was to restore to 
France all her former territorial possessions, and the ac- 
quisition of Louisiana was his initial effort in that direc'tion. 

Early in 1802 the cession of Louisiana to France be- 
carne known. President Jefferson awoke to the gravity of 
the situation, and on April 18th wrote to Robert Livings- 
ton, envoy extraordinary to France: "The cession of Louis- 
iana and the Floridas by Spain to France works most sorely 

on the United States It completely reverses all the 

political relations of the United States There is on 

the globe one spot, the possessor of which is our natural and 
habitual enemy. It is New Orleans. It is impossible that 
France and the United States can continue long friends, 
when they meet in so irritable a position. We must be 
very improvident if we do not begin to make arrange- 
ments on that hypothesis The day that France takes 
possession of New Orleans fixes the sentence which is to 
restrain her forever within her low watermark. It seals the 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 109 

union of two nations which in conjunction can maintain ex- 
clusive possession of the ocean. From that moment we must 
marry ourselves to the British fleet and nation. We must 
turn all our attentions to a maritime force, for which our 
resources place us on very high grounds; and having formed 
and cemented together a power which may render reinforce- 
ment of her settlements here impossible to France, make 
the first cannon which shall be fired in Europe the signal 
for tearing up any settlement she may have made, and for 
holding the two continents of America in sequestration for 
the common purposes of the United British and American 
nations." 

This is very remarkable language from one who had 
always been an ardent Republican and who had been accused 
of sympathizing with Revolutionary France. 

When it became known in this country that France 
was likely to replace Spain as possessor of the territory 
about the mouth of the Mississippi, and that the former 
country was by no means a good friend of the United 
States, the hot spirit of the Ohio Valley people burst into a 
wild blaze. These sturdy pioneers, who kept their rifles, 
loaded and primed, over their fireplaces or behind their 
doors, ready for instant use upon a bear, a catamount, an 
Indian, or one another, now talked fiercely of marching to 
New Orleans and seeking redress with powder and lead. 

Jefferson was alarmed at the prospect of this temper 
bursting into action and deranging ail his schemes. Yet he 
sympathized with these Western men in their wrath and 
bore them no grudge. Following his bent, he tried to be 
conciliatory, but at the same time there was considerable 
show of spirit. If France persisted in taking Louisiana, 
he wrote to Bonaparte, it would cost her a war, perhaps 
soon, which would annihilate her maritime strength and 
place the ocean under the despotism of two nations, "which 
I am not reconciled to the more because one of them 



1 10 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

would be my own." Says James K. Hosmer, "Mr. Adams 
believes there was a touch of bluster about this, which Jef- 
ferson thought in the circumstances might be politic. He 
was too peace-loving to be sincere in it, But when Bona- 
parte was the one to be frightened, and Talleyrand the one 
to be hoodwinked, the naivete of the proceeding becomes 
rather ludicrous."* 

Then it was that the Federalists thought they saw a 
chance to be borne again into power by hostilities, and it 
was with these that the President was really vexed. The 
following written by him on January 13, 1803, well describes 
the situation: "The agitation of the public mind is extreme. 
In the Western country it is natural, and grounded on hon- 
est motives. In the seaports it proceeds from a desire for 
war, which increases the mercantile lottery; in the Feder- 
alists generally, and especially those of Congress, the ob- 
ject is to force us into war if possible, in order to derange 
our finances; or, if this cannot be done, to attach the West- 
ern country to them, as their best friends, and thus get 
again into power. Remonstrances, memorials, etc., are 
now circulating through the whole of the Western country, 
and signed by the body of the people." 

John Randolph, a staunch friend of the President, was 
the leader of the Democratic side of the House, and his 
party had a strong working majority. The substance of the 
work done by that branch during the session of 1802-3, 
publicly and in secret session, was thoroughly satisfactory 
to the executive. The many resolutions offered by the 
Federalists, designed to obstruct a peaceable settlement of 
the grievances and to win to themselves the allegiance of 
the West, ^ere voted down by loyal majorities. Finally, 
» the management or the whole affair was tacitly relegated to 
the President, and the sum of two million dollars provided, 
to be used as he saw fit. His plan was by this time to pur- 

*Hosmer's History of the Louisiana Purcliase. 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 1 1 1 

chase New Orleans and perhaps something more on the 
East side of the Mississippi. Initial steps towards such a 
bargain had already been taken by Mr. Livingston, the 
American minister at Paris. 

To pave the way for such overtures, Jefferson wrote 
to Dupont de Nemours: "Our circumstances are so impe- 
rious as to admit of no delay as to our course; and the use 
of the Mississippi is so indispensible that we cannot hesitate 
one moment to hazard our existence for its maintenance. 
It may be said, if this object is so all-important to us, why 
do we not offer such a sum as to insure its purchase? The 
answer is simple. We are an agricultural people, poor in 
money and owing great debts. These will be falling due by 
instalments for fifteen years to come, and require from us 
the practice of a rigorous economy to accomplish their pay- 
ment; and it is our principle to pay to a moment whatsoever 
we have engaged, and never to engage what we cannot and 
mean not faithfully to pay. We have calculated our re- 
sources, and find the sum to be moderate which they would 
enable us to pay. and we know from late trials that little can 
be added to it by borrowing. The country, too. which we 

wish to purchase is a barren sand We cannot, then, 

make anything by a sale of the land to individuals. So that 
it is peace alone which makes it an object to us, and which 
ought to make the cession of it desirable to France." 

It would seem from the above quotation that Jefferson 
possessed the ability to drive a bargain skillfully. "A will- 
ing but very poor purchaser, absolutely sure to pay his notes 
at maturity, shunning discord rather than seeking profit." 

In this chapter the writer has preferred to present the 
views of Jefferson by quotations from his letters and dis- 
patches rather than merely to give the substance of them. 
The excerpts given clearly show that only two things were 
desired by the administration, the purchase of the Island of 
New Orleans, and the free navigation of the Mississippi. 



1 12 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

How the purchase of the whole of Louisiana was brought 
about will appear in following chapters. We shall close our 
presentation of the views of Mr. Jefferson by an extract from 
a dispatch of May 11, 1802, by Secretary Madison to 
Pinckney, at Madrid, when it seemed that the cession of 
Louisiana to France might fall through — a very significant 
document, showing clearly the desires of Jefferson: "Should 
the cession actually fail, and Spain retain New Orleans and 
the Floridas, I repeat to you the wish of the President, that 
every effort and address be employed to obtain the arrange- 
ment by which the territory on the East side of the Missis- 
sippi, including New Orleans, may be ceded to the United 
States and the Mississippi made a common boundary, with 
a common use of its navigation for them and Spain. The 
inducements to be held out to Spain were intimated in your 
original instructions on this point. I am charged by the 
President now to add that you may not only receive and 
transmit a proposition of guaranty of her territory beyond 
the Mississippi, as a condition of her ceding to the United 
States the territory, including New Orleans, on this side, but. 
in case it be necessary, may make the proposition yourself, 
in the forms required by our Constitution." 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 1 13 




THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 
III. 

HOW NAPOLEON WAS INDUCED TO SELL. 

RANGE had not ceased to be sorry that she had 
ceded Louisiana to Spain. When Napoleon's 
star was in the ascendancy and it seemed that 
his dream of a mighty European empire with 
himself at its head might be realized, he began to look 
about for colonies. It was his theory that France without 
colonies would never become mighty. His attention was 
first directed to the East, but events not essential to this 
sketch baffled his designs in that direction. Then he cast 
his eyes upon Louisiana which France had alienated some 
eight and thirty years before. Possibly, too. the raising 
once more of the fleur de lis over the forest fastnesses of 
New France came within the range of his mental horo- 
scope. Upon the Spanish throne was Carlos IV, the best 
perhaps of his name, but not a particularly interesting his- 
torical personage. He was morally correct and of abste- 
mious habits, but yoked to a queen whose character was 
notoriously bad and at whose lapses he winked. To her 
and the court favorites he relinquished the concerns of his 
empire, while he busied himself with hunting and other 
amusements. 

The power behind the Spanish throne at this time was 
Don Manuel Godoy, vicious, crafty and shrewd, prime min- 
ister and paramour of the queen. It was he who negotiated 



1 14 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

the treaty of 1795, conceding to the Americans all the 
rights and privileges demanded. This evidently was not 
because he loved the people of the Ohio Valley, but it may 
have been because he feared an English attack. 

Early in the last year of the eighteenth century, Napp- 
leon, full of his colonization schemes, was negotiating for 
the retrocession of Louisiana, alienated by the great Louis 
in 1762. In August, Berthier, minister at the court of 
Spain, effected a treaty by which, in return for the territory 
Napoleon sought, the Duke of Parma was to be firmly fixed 
in Tuscany. The date of this treaty was October 1, 1800. 
By it the two Floridas also were to become French posses- 
sions. Dazzled and awed by the splendor of Napoleon's 
victories, Spain acquiesced to every demand of the First 
Consul. When he asked for the recession of Louisiana, 
intending to utilize its territory as a basis from which to 
subdue New France and Hayti, and rebuild French colonial 
power, the Spanish king interposed not the slightest objec- 
tion. But Carlos did not at once ratify the arrangement, 
and at the French court the treaty was kept secret. 

The victory of Hohenlinden on December 3, 1800, 
put Napoleon more than ever at the apex. Berthier was 
succeeded at the Spanish court by Lucien Bonaparte, young, 
and it appears, not above corruption. Godoy, whose power 
had been temporarily suspended, was recalled, because, 
as he himself arrogantly asserts, no one else had been 
found who could successfully cope with Napoleon. A new 
treaty was negotiated on the 21st of March, 1801. Its 
terms were substantially the same as those of the former 
treaty, excepting that the Floridas were not included. Still 
was the king's signature withheld. Napoleon angrily de- 
manded the immediate possession of Louisiana, but Godoy. 
says Henry Adams in his splendid history of this period, 
cool and adroit as a picador maneuvering before a mad- 
dened bull, held back the province on the plea that the stip- 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 115 

ulatlon in regard to Tuscany had not been, fulfilled. Then 
it was that Napoleon remarked to the Spanish minister at 
Paris, "You act toward the French republic as you might 
act toward San Marino." 

It was not until October 15. 1802, that Carlos IV af- 
fixed his signature to the document ceding Louisiana to 
France, and then only after exacting most definite condi- 
tions. He demanded that the new kingdom of Etruria (as 
the Italian province of Tuscany was to be called) should be 
recognized by Austria. England and the dethroned Duke of 
Tuscany. France must pledge herself never to alienate 
Louisiana, but to restore it to Spain in case the King of 
Etruria (the son-in-law ol Carlos) should lose his throne. 
We shall see presently how little respect Napoleon had for 
these stipulations signed by his minister, St. Cyr. 

To the efforts of Napoleon to colonize the re-ceded 
territory we shall now give our attention, and in so doing it 
will be discovered how largely to fate — or Providence — are 
we indebted for the peaceable acquisition of the splendid 
domain from which already there have been carved four- 
teen states. 

In the fall of 1801, with the Treaty of Amiens came 
peace with England and the First Consul was free to pur- 
sue his colonization schemes. To beautiful Louisiana he 
turned his thoughts, but at the threshold of America he was 
confronted by a problem that had first to be solved. San 
Domingo, at one time the most important colony of Impe- 
rial France, had for some years been in the throes of a re- 
volt. Only the Western end of the island was under the 
dominion £if France. San Domingo at this time contained 
600,000 people, five-sixths of whom were negroes of full 
blood. The number of mulattoes was estimated at 50,000. 
and the white Creoles at about the same number. To the 
latter belonged all the social privileges and political prefer- 
ment. But the spirit of freedom was in the air, the time 



1 16 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

was ripe for a revolt, and in August, 1791, there had risen 
into prominence one of the most distinguished persons of 
the black race, Toussaint L'Ouverture, the son of an Afri- 
can chief. This remarlcable individual grew up a slave in 
the Spanish part of San Dpmingo, but at the date above, 
at the head of four thousand blacks, he subdued his old 
masters and then lent his aid to the negroes of the French 
portion of the island. These made him general of brigade, 
and in May, 1797, general in chief. 

In August, 1791, the hapless island had been involved 
in death and ruin; in 1794 the National Assembly, of France 
had granted freedom to the blacks. But it was freedom 
from French rule that was sought, hence the act of the As- 
embly failed to pacify the insurgents. In 1798, when war 
between the United States and France seemed inevitable, 
Toussaint was practically dictator of the whole island. He 
sought by the most amicable overtures to ally himself with 
the Americans. Perhaps a crown, to be gained by the 
friendship of our nation, was in his thoughts. He was ab- 
solute master of the island and his authority was backed by 
20,000 disciplined troops. This was the condition of af- 
fairs when Napoleon appeared upon the scene. 

On October 1, 1801, General Le Clerc was appointed 
to the command of an expedition which was to be dispatched 
for the subjugation of the blacks in San Domingo. Le 
Clerc, the husband of Pauline Bonaparte, was an officer of 
much skill and experience. He was to be powerfully sup- 
ported, for the First Consul was determined to subdue the 
insurgents. On the 18th of November, the latter wrote to 
Toussaint: "What do you want? the liberty of the blacks? 
You know that wherever we have been we give it to those 
who have it not. Tell them if liberty seems the greatest 
good, they can enjoy it only by becoming French citizens." 
But the sequel showed that there was not a particle of sin- 
cerity in the words of the First Consul. He meant to win 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 1 17 

back the island and restore slavery. His dealings with 
Toussaint is perhaps the blackest incident of Napoleon's 
notable career. No one in the United States appreciated 
the condition of affairs, hence the moral support of our Re- 
public was withdrawn. 

In January, 1802, Le Clerc appeared upon .the scene, 
supported by a great fleet and army. A fierce campaign, 
sharp and decisive, ensued. Toussaint, relying upon the 
honor of his foes, gave himself up, in the hope that good 
might come of his personal sacrifice. But he met with 
nothing but treachery and brutal treatment. He was con- 
veyed to France, and there, in a cheerless casemate of the 
fortress of Joux, in the bleak Jura region, he coughed his 
life away a year later in the ravages of consumption. The 
indebtedness of the people of the United States to Tous- 
saint and the other liberty-loving blacks of San Domingo 
has never been understood nor appreciated. With the de- 
portation of L'Ouvertur^ came the decree that the blacks 
freed in 1794 should again be reduced to slavery. 

But the end was not yet. Able leaders sprang to the 
place made vacant by the heroic sacrifice of L'Ouverture. 
An irregular, guerilla campaign was carried on in forest and 
mountain fastnesses, with disastrous results to Le Clerc. 
And now there appeared upon the scene a new ally for the 
blacks — the deadly yellow fever. Side by side stalked this 
pestilence and the sword until scarcely one-seventh of Le 
Clerc's command survived. The general himself was 
among the victims of the plague. His troops, with some 
additional ones, had been destined for Louisiana, but their 
fate was a terrible object lesson as to what would be the 
ultimate result if an attempt were made to occupy that ter- 
ritory. For Napoleon was astute enough to realize that a 
collision with the aggressive throng ever pushing Westward 
was inevitable. Le Clerc, too. on arriving at San Domin- 
go, had shown his unfriendliness to the Americans by seiz- 



1 18 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

ing their property and sligmatizing them "the scum of the 
nations." Talleyrand calmly denied the existence of the 
treaty of Ildefonso until its details became known by the 
public, and then admitted it with unblushing equanimity. 
Livingston received cavalier treatment. Pichon. the French 
minister at Washington, was recalled and reprimanded be- 
cause he attempted to explain and adjust matters. It was 
plain that had it not been for the disasters at San Domingo 
and the prospect of a resumption of hostilities in Europe, 
a conflict with France, so long threatened, would have 
crimsoned the American horizon. 

In August, 1802, orders were issued for the mobiliza- 
tion at Dunkirk of the troops designed for Louisiana. They 
were to sail in November, after the equinoctial storms. 
An unusual proportion of officers indicated that the force 
was to be largely recruited in America. To its command 
Napoleon first assigned Bernadotte, but that general made 
inconvenient conditions. Th;n the choice fell upon the im- 
petuous Victor, and the latter at once pressed the prepara- 
tions for departure. Bernadotte was named as minister to 
the United States. Almost as they were on the point of 
sailing, intelligence of a coming European war made it nec- 
essary to send them elsewhere, and ultimately to royal hon- 
ors. On such a narrow margin do human destinies hang! 
Victor's troops had to be sent to San Domingo, else both 
American colonies would be lost. Says Hosmer: "What- 
ever agony of mind the First Consul may have felt over 
this ruin of his projects, he gave little or no sign of suffer- 
ing. Prompt and buoyant, as if nothing had happened, he 
abandoned his old path, and, to the surprise of those about 
him and the world at large, dashed with all his energy into 
a new course."* 

A significant dispatch from Livingston, dated March 
12, 1803, concludes with this story: "1 have just attended 

* Hosniei'.^ Histi)rv of the Louisiiina Purchase. 



tHE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 119 

Madame Bonaparte's drawing-room where a circumstance 

happened of sufficient importance to merit your attention. 

After the First Consul had gone the circuit of one room . . 

he passed most of the other members merely with 

a bow, went up to Lord Whitworth (British ambassador) 

and after the first civilities, said: 'I find your nation wants 

war again.' 

"'No, sir, we are very desirous of peace,' replied 

Lord Whitworth. 

" 'You have just finished a war of fifteen years.' 

" 'It is true, sir, and that was fifteen years too long.' 

" 'But you want another war of fifteen years.' 

" 'Pardon me, sir, we are very desirous of peace.' 

" 'I must have either Malta or war!' 

" 'I am not prepared, sir. to speak on that subject; and 

I can only assure you. Citizen First Consul, that we wish 

for peace.' 

''It is highly probable that a new rupture will take 

place, since it is hardly possible that the First Consul would 

commit himself so publicly unless his determination had 

been taken, "t 

.f Annals of Congress, 1802-1803. 



120 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 




THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 
IV. 

napoleon's quarrel with his brothers. 

FTER Napoleon, the ablest of the Bonaparte 
brothers was Lucien. While Joseph became 
King of Spain, Louis King of Holland, and Je- 
rome King of Westphalia, Lucien. because he 
dared to marry in opposition to the will of Napoleon, never 
wore the gilded chains. In his Memoires he has left us a 
curious and dramatic account of the quarrel between Na- 
poleon on the one hand and Joseph and himself on the 
other, concerning the alienation of Louisiana.* 

While negotiating the treaty of San lldefonso, in 1801, 
the First Consul, possessed of his iridescent dream of uni- 
versal empire, had told Lucien, "Above all, don't let Louis- 
iana go." Lucien goes on to relate an interview he had 
with his brother Joseph on April 6, 1803. The former 
came in from the country place of Plessis and found Jo- 
seph, very much excited and pacing the floor, awaiting him. 
Lucien was met with the exclamation: "Here you are at 
last! I was afraid you would not come. You are thinking 
of going to the play. I will tell you news which will take 
away your desire to amuse yourself. You'll not believe it, 
but it is true. The General means to give up Louisiana." 

* For a translation of these passages of Lucien's Memoires we 
are indebted to James K. Hosnier, in liis "History of tiie Louisiana 
Purchase." Our account of the quarrel is condensed from Mr. 
Hosmer's excellent book. 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 121 

"Bah! who'll buy it of him?" "The Americans." Lucien 
stood for a moment stupefied. "Come, now," he said, "sup- 
pose this were his plan, the Chambers will never consent." 
"He means to get along without their consent. That is 
what he said when I declared as you now do that the Cham- 
bers would not consent." "What! did he really say that? 
That's rather strong. No; it's impossible. It is only a bit 
of brag for your benefit." "No, no, he was talking very 
seriously. And, what is more, he added that this sale 
would furnish him with money for a war." 

Lucien and Joseph talked for some time about this 
coup d'etat. Said Lucien, "If the First Consul really has 
this incredible fancy about selling Louisiana after all he has 
done to get it, and the necessity of our having it that he has 
always talked about, for our colonial interests and even our 
national dignity, how will he be able to dispense with the 
authorization of the Chambers?" After much more talk 
on the subject, it was arranged that the two brothers should 
visit the First Consul the following morning. Lucien was 
to break the ice, after Napoleon himself had led the way to 
it. On the next morning, April 7th, Lucien went to the 
Tuileries and found the General in his bath. But Lucien 
was admitted at once and the brothers talked for some time 
without leading up to the matter uppermost in Lucien's 
thoughts.. As Napoleon was about to leave the bath, Jo- 
seph was announced. "Let him come in," said the First 
Consul, "I shall stay in the bath a quarter of an hour long- 
er." Lucien had time to make known to Joseph that 
Louisiana had not yet been mentioned. 

After some little conversation. Napoleon asked of Jo- 
seph, "Well, brother, have you spoken to Lucien?" "What 
about?" "Of our plan as to Louisiana, don't you know?" 
"Of your plan, you mean, my dear brother. You cannot 
have forgotten that far from being mine — " "Well, well, 
preacher." broke in Napoleon, "I don't need to discuss that 



122 CLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

with' you; you are so obstinate, I like better to talk about 
serious things with Lucien." Then followed some talk not 
relevant to this narrative. Presently Joseph, who seemed 
to be bored, broke in quite brusquely, "Well, you say noth- 
ing more about your famous plan." "Yes, but it is late, 
and if Lucien is willing to wait with you in my cabinet, Mr. 
Faultfinder, I will join you soon. Only take note, Lucien, 
I have made up my mind to sell Louisiana to the Ameri- 
cans." Lucien thought best to show only moderate sur- 
prise at this announcement, which he pretended was news. 
This apparent indifference caused Napoleon to say, "Well, 
Joseph, you see Lucien does not utter loud cries about this 
thing. Yet he almost has a right to, seeing that Louisiana 
is, so to speak, his own conquest." "1 assure you if Lu- 
cien says nothing, he thinks none the less," replied Joseph. 
"Indeed! and why should he be diplomatic with me?" Thus 
cornered, Lucien hastened to explain, declaring that he re- 
ally thought of this matter as Joseph did, and added that 
he undertook to say the Chambers would not assent." "You 
undertake to say! A pretty piece of business!" "And I 
undertake to say that it will be so. That is what I told the 
First Consul before," said Joseph. "And what did I say?" 
asked Napoleon, his wrath rising and looking by turns at the 
brothers, as if not to lose any changes in their countenan- 
ces. Said Joseph, "You declared you would get along 
without the assent of the Chambers, did you not?" "Ex- 
actly. That is what I took the liberty to say to Monsieur 
Joseph, and what I repeat here to Citizen Lucien, begging 
him to give me his opinion about it, derived from his pater- 
nal tenderness for that mighty diplomatic conquest of his." 

In his Memoires, Lucien continues: 

"The matter seemed about to be dropped, and Joseph 
and I were turning toward the door, while the valet was 
spreading open the sheet to wrap up his master, when the 
latter suddenly cried out in a tone that made us all start: 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 123 

'Well, sirs, think what you please about the sale of Loulsi- 
iana; but you may both of you put on mourning over this 
thing — you, Lucien over the sale of your province; you, Jo- 
seph, because 1 purpose to dispense with the consent of all 
persons whomsoever. Do you hear?' I confess that I 
fairly shivered at such an outbreak, on a topic so delicate, 
in the presence of a servant. I kept still, however, but Jo- 
seph made a remark which caused a tremendous tempest, 
not in a teapot, as the saying is, but in the bath-tub of the 
man who was beginning to make all the sovereigns of Eu- 
rope tremble. Stung by the scornful words and manner, 
especially by the contemptuous 'Do you hear?' which had 
been the cutting snapper to our brother's lashing wrath, Jo- 
seph rushed back, exclaiming: 'You do well, my dear broth- 
er, not to lay your plans before the Chambers, for I swear 
to you 1 will myself, the first, put myself, if necessary, at 
the head of the opposition which will certainly be made.' 

"I was preparing to support Joseph, but in a somewhat 
less vehement tone, when 1 was stopped by an outburst from 
Napoleon of loud and sarcastic laughter, at the end of which 
Joseph, flushed and almost beside himself, stooping over 
the figure that lay immersed, screamed out: 'Laugh, laugh. 
laugh, then! All the same I shall do what I say; and 
though I do not like to mount the tribune, this time you'll 
find me there.' At these words Napoleon, rising so as to 
show half his body out of the water opaque and frothy with 
cologne, cried sternly: 'You will not need to play the orator, 
for 1 repeat to you this debate will not take place; because 
the plan so unlucky as to be disapproved by you, conceived 
by me, negotiated by me, will be ratified and executed by 
me— by me alone, do you understand? — by me. who scorn 
your opposition.' The speaker then immersed himself 
once more to the neck; but Joseph, whose self-control was 
quite gone, his face all aflame, roared: 'Well, General, on 
my side I tell you that you, I. and all of the family, if you 



124 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

do what you say you will, may get ready to join shortly 
those poor innocent devils whom you so legally, so humane- 
ly — above all. with so much jusiice — have transported to 
Cayenne.' "* 

When Joseph uttered this home thrust, Napoleon rose 
suddenly from the water and then plunged violently back, 
causing an aquatic flood. At the same time he thundered. 
"You insolent fellow, I ought — " Lucien did not hear any 
more. Joseph, who was bending over the bath tub, re- 
ceived the full force of the deluge. His face grew red with 
fury, while the pallor of Napoleon's became more marked. 
Lucien, thinking he ought to play the part of conciliator, 
bethought himself of a passage from the first book of y^neid 
(where Neptune chides the wind for raising a storm) which 
he recited with dramatic effect and appropriate gestures: 

•'Are you so possessed with confidence in yourselves 
that you now dare without my sanction, O Winds, to con- 
found heaven and earth and to pile up such masses? Whom 
I but first I must quiet the disturbed waves." 

This recital had the desired effect. The angry com- 
batants sobered down; the electricity was discharged. Jo- 
seph, who had received the splash full in the face, was 
sponged off by the valet. Napoleon remarked to Lucien, 
"You always have something that hits the occasion." Just 
then the valet, who had once been in the service of Joseph, 
gave the brothers a shock by falling to the floor in a fainting 
fit. Help was summoned, and the servant carried from 
the room. Napoleon, asking Lucien if he got a splashing, 
too, and receiving a reply in the negative, said, "Do me the 
favor, then, of waiting for me ^ith Bourriene. I want 
to talk with you." 

A half hour after leaving Napoleon in his bath-tub, 
Lucien was with him again in his cabinet. For awhile the 

*This reference was to certain alleged conspirators whom 
many believed had been unjustly punished. 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 125 

two talked on very amicable terms, the First Consul using 
the terms "thee" and "thou," as he always did with his 
brothers when showing a fraternal spirit. Napoleon gave 
his reasons for selling Louisiana, which we quote from Lu- 
cien's book: 

" 'It is certainly worth while to sell when you can 
what you ara certain to lose, for the English, who have seen 
the colony given back to us with great displeasure, are ach- 
ing for a chance to capture it and it will be their first coup 
de main in case of war.' To this I replied that as regards 
selling what one fears to lose some day, it might do some- 
times in private affairs, but not in public. As I looked at 
the honor of France, it was more disgraceful to sell Louis- 
iana for $18,000,000 than to let it be taken in war. Frank- 
ly. I did not believe England then desired it. If the First 
Consul were not of my opinion, I did not see why, instead 
of giving up on such base conditions a colony of such im- 
portance, he did not profit by the peace and send troops 
there, as he had sent them to San Domingo. 'But you did 
not believe in my San Domingo expedition.' I replied that 
I had not been satisfied with the treatment given to Tous- 
saint. 'Well, let me tell you,' said Napoleon, 'I am more 
ready to acknowledge than I like to confess to-day my re- 
regret at the San Domingo expedition. Our navy, so infe- 
rior to that of our neighbors across the Channel, will always 
cause our colonies to be exposed to great risks. Our na- 
tional glory will never come from our navy. You see our 
land forces have fought, and will fight victoriously against 
all Europe. But as to the sea, you must know that there 
we have to lower our flag — we and all the powers of the 
continent. America perhaps some day — but I'll not talk of 
that. The English navy is and long will be too dominant; 
we shall not equal it.' " 

Discoursing still further what he called his Louisian- 
clde. the First Consul gave a reason for selling which Lu- 



126 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

cien believes to have been the chief one — the pretended 
necessity of getting funds ready for the war which he fore- 
saw. This was very repulsive to Lucien, who declares that 
a war of conquest was meditated. When the latter did not 
recede from his position regarding the sale, Napoleon broke 
out with: "As you please. Cease the miserable caviling 
which you and Joseph are at work on night and day, ridicu- 
lous for him and still less appropriate for you. It is not 
from you that I expect lessons in government. I shall con- 
trive to dispense with you. A precious, well-disposed pair 
of brothers you are!" 

After more talk bearing on the subject, Lucien re- 
marked: "If I believed this sale of Louisiana would be fatal 
to me alone, I would consent to it. But it is too unconsti- 
tutional." This follows in Lucien's account: 

"Napoleon broke here into a fit of the rasping, sar- 
castic, almost convulsive laughter to which he sometiones 
gave way in moments of excitement. It did not come 
from the open throat, but as if forced from the depths of 
his chest, cutting off his utterances as he had cut me off. 
'Ha-ha-ha! You are drawing it fine. For example.' [Lu- 
cien began to fear the roughest possible explosion as his 
brother's words struggled out in the intervals of his cachi- 
natory spasm.] 'Ha-ha-hal For example!' repeated he. 
catching his breath. 'Unconstitutional! That's droll from 
you — a good joke — ha-ha!' And the outbursts went on less 
forced, but more natural. I sat mute, quite stupefied at 
the irritation which I had unwittingly produced. An ex- 
pression of ironical and contemptuous rage passed over Na- 
poleon's face following this nervous and uncanny gaiety. 
Conscious that I deserved his esteem more than his con- 
tempt, I was determined not to be driven from my word 
•unconstitutional,' by which 1 had only meant to justify my- 
self, or at least to soften my resistance to his will. I cool- 
ly said, therefore. 1 was astonished that he could treat so 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 127 

mockingly so great a subject. -Do let that rest. How 
have I touched your constitution? Answer.' 'I know well,' 
I said, 'you have not done so; but you know well that to al- 
ienate any possession of the Republic without the consent 
of the Chambers is unconstitutional. The expression of 
such a thought by the august representative of the national 
sovereignty, who until now has been its most glorious de- 
fender, is a subject for astonishment. In a word the con- 
stitution ' 

" 'Clear out! Constitution! Unconstitutional! Re- 
public! National sovereignt>! Great words! Fine phras- 
es! Do you think you are still at the club of St. Maximin? 
We are past that, you had better believe, Parbleu! You 
phrase it nobly. Unconstitutional! It becomes you well, 
Sir Knight of the Constitution, to talk that way to me. You 
did n't have the same respect for the Chambers on the 
eighteenth Brumaire.'* Here I broke in in a tone as high 
as Napoleon's: 'You well know, my dear brother, that your 
entry into the Five Hundred had no warmer opponent than 
I. No, I was not your accomplice, but the repairer of the 
evil you had done to yourself; and that at my own peril, and 

*'-0n the pretense of a Jacobin plot both Councils were trans- 
ferred to St. Cloud, so as to be removed from the sympathy and 
aid of the capital. Bonaparte was given command of the army in 
Paris. Sieyes and Ducos broke up the government by resigning 
their office. The next day [I8th Brumaire, November 9, 1799], 
Bonaparte appeared before the Council of Five Hundred. His ex- 
planations were received with indignation. The President, his 
brother Lucien, was unable to restrain the tumult. The crowd 
rushed forward with threatening gestures. Bonaparte turned pale 
and was borne away by his grenadiers who rushed in to save their 

chief He sent in a platoon of grenadiers to bring out 

his brother, who pronounced the Council dissolved. The roll of 
the drums drowned the last cry of Vive la Republique. The revo- 
lution was achieved. As Bonaparte boasted, it had cost not a 
drop of blood. Liberty only was strangled." — Steele's Brief Histo- 
ry of France. 



128 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

with some generosity on my part because we did not then 
agree. I may add that no one more than I in Europe has 
disapproved of the sacrilege against the national representa- 
tion. Yes, unconstitutional attempt upon the national sov- 
ereignty.' 'Go on — go on; that's quite too fine a thing to 
be cut short, Sir Orator of the Clubs! But at the same 
time take note of this, you and Monsieur Joseph, that I 
shall do just as 1 please; that I detest without fearing them, 
your friends the Jacobins, not one of whom shall remain in 
France if, as I hope, things continue to rest in my hands — 
and that, in fine, I snap my fingers at you and your nation- 
al representation!' 

"Greatly scandalized at this outburst, for I was still in 
all the naivete of my republicanism, I replied as coolly as I 
could: 'On my side. Citizen Consul, 1 do not snap my fin- 
gers at you, but I well know what I think about you.' 
'What you think about me. Citizen Lucien? Parbleu! \ 
am curious to know. Out with it.' 'I think, Citizen Con- 
sul, that having sworn to the constitution on the eighteenth 
Brumaire, as president of the Council of Five Hundred, 
and seeing you despise it thus, if I were not your brother I 
would be your enemy.' 'My enemy!' thundered Napoleon. 
'Try it once. That's rather strong,' and he made a move- 
ment toward me as if to strike a blow. He paused, howev- 
er, before the coolness with which 1 faced him. 'Thou my 
enemy!' he screamed. 'Look, I would dash you to the 
earth as I do this box.' He had in his hand his snuff-box, 
in the lid of which was Isabey's minature of Josephine. 
This he flung violently to the floor. It did not break, but 
the portrait fell out of the cover. I hastened to pick it up 
and presenting it to Napoleon in a manner which I forced 
myself to make respectful, said: 'It's too bad. It's your 
wife's picture, not your brother, that you have broken.' " 

Lucien now left the room, keeping his eye on his 
brother, however. But the latter picked up the box and 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 129 

tried to put the picture back in the lid, which caused Lu- 
cien to think that his brother was not so angry as he wished 
to appear. 

Lucien says that what else took place as regards the 
sale of Louisiana had no more personal relation to him. 
There was another scene between the First Consul and Jo- 
seph — the latter evidently not considering himself routed at 
the engagement of the bath-tub. Joseph drove at his 
brother with such vehemence that the latter was forced 
from the field, seeking refuge in the apartments of his wife. 
But out of these hot discussions came no ameliorations tor 
the fate of the colony; no change except, perhaps, a little 
greater haste in the sale. 

Lucien. writing a long time after these events, says: 
"In spite of all the harm done me by this brother of mine, 
who became all-powerful, and in spite of the tyrannical acts 
with which his glorious memory has too justly been re- 
proached, I believe that far from having a tyrant's heart his 
nature was fundamentally good. Pushed to an extreme of 
power which he did not desire himself, he might with im- 
punity have done much more than he did, encouraged and 
approved by flatterers. 1 firmly believe he deserves thanks 
as much, and more even, for the evil which he did not do, 
having all power to do it, as for the good which can really 
be ascribed to him in many of the startling cases of his 
career." 



130 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 
V. 

THE NEGOTIATIONS, 



IRMED.WITH the authority of Congress to ex- 
pend two million dollars in the adjustment of the 
troubles that threatened a rupture between the 

1 officials at New Orleans and the Americans of 
the Ohio and the Mississippi Valleys, Thomas Jefferson dis- 
patched Robert R. Livingston to Paris, with instructions to 
begin negotiations, and to protest vigorously sgainst the 
closing of the Mississippi to the citizens of the United 
States. The cause of the Western pioneers, hunters, trad- 
ers and agriculturists was in most excellent hands. Mr. 
Livingston had had ample experience, both in the halls of 
legislation and in foreign diplomacy. In 1775 he had been 
elected to the Continental Congress, and was one of that 
committee of five which made possible the adoption of the 
Declaration of Independence. In 1781 he was selected as 
Secretary of Foreign affairs and in the discharge of the 
most delicate diplomatic duties, demonstrated that he pos- 
sessed a superior aptitude for such arduous tasks. In nam- 
ing Mr. Livingston as minister plenipotentiary to France 
at this critical juncture, Jefferson made what is usually re- 
garded as the best appointment of his life. The only disa- 
bility Mr. Livingston possessed, mental or physical, was his 
serious deafness. Otherwise he was an ideal diplomatic 
agent — the peer of any in Europe. 

In due time Mr. Livingston reaches Paris and enters 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 131 

upon his duties. He soon discovered that the First Consul 
was practically the whole government, and that few persons 
had the privilege of a near approach to him. On February 
26, 1802, Livingston writes: "On the subject of Louisiana, 
I have nothing new. The establishment is disapproved by 
every stcitesman here as one that will occasion a great 
waste of men and money, excite enmities with us, and pro- 
duce no possible advantage to the nation. But it is a 
scheme to which the First Consul is extremely attached, 
and must, of course, be supported. I have it, however, 
through a friend, from the First Consul, that it is by no 
means their intention to obstruct the navigation of the Mis- 
sissippi or violate our treaty with Spain." 

The relative state of affairs existing between France 
and this country is well outlined in a letter from the Secre- 
tary of State to Livingston, under date of the first of May 
following: "The conduct of the French government in pay- 
ing so little attention to its obligations under the treaty, in 
neglecting its debts to our citizens, in giving no answers 
to your complaints and expostulations, which you say 
is the case with those of other foreign ministers al^o, 
and particularly in its reserve as to Louisiana, which tacitly 
contradicts the language first held to you b> the Minister of 
Foreign Relations, gives tokens as little auspicious to the 
true interests of France itself as to the rights and just ob- 
jects of the United States. The cession of Louisiana be- 
comes daily more and more a source of painful apprehen- 
sion. . . . You will also pursue, by prudent means, the 
inquiry into the extent of the cession, particularly whether 
it includes the Floridas as well as New Orleans, and en- 
deavor to ascertain the price at which these, if included in 
the cession, would be yielded to the United States." 

About the last of November, 1802, the news of the 
interdiction of Godoy's treaty of 1795 reaches Washington. 
On December 23rd Madison writes to Paris that "should it 



132 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

be revoked before the time for the descent of the boats in 
the spring, both the injury and the irritation proceeding fronn 
it will be greatly increased." On the same date Livingston 
writes home: "The armament has not yet sailed; Florida 
not ceded; more hesitation and doubt on the subject than 1 
have yet heard." These were the last official messages 
of the year. 

About the first of the new year the resolutions passed 
by Congress were forwarded to Livingston. The Secretary 
of State wrote: "There is but one sentiment throughout the 
Union with respect to the duty of maintaining our rights of 
navigation and boundary. The only existing differences re- 
late to the degree of patience which ought to be exercised 
during the appeal to friendly modes of redress." 

The outlook for the success of Livingston's efforts at 
this time was far from encouraging. The French govern- 
ment had admitted the American spoliation claims, but 
payment was withheld; the impetuous Victor had succeeded 
Bernadotte as the chief of the expedition designed for 
Louisiana; Talleyrand still pleaded ignorance in regard to 
the terms of the treaty of San Ildefonso and the cession of 
the colony to France. The best that Livingston could 
write was, "Do not absolutely despair." 

At this juncture James Monroe was dispatched to 
Paris as special envoy. To him were entrusted more spe- 
cific instructions regarding the effort to purchase the terri- 
tory East of the Mississippi. But the sequel will show that 
the great treaty t/as practically concluded prior to his arri- 
val upon the scene. 

Monroe's instructions were definitely laid down. (1) 
He was to purchase, if possible, New Orleans and the Flor- 
idas, and for these he was authorized to expend up to two* 
million dollars. (2) Should France refuse to sell even the 

* Hosmer says ten millions, but we are unable to find any cor- 
roborative authority for his statement. 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 133 

site of a town, the old right of deposit was to be tried for. 
In case a sale was effected, certain commercial privileges 
were to be given France. No one dreamed of a purchase 
of the magnitude of that eventually brought about. During 
the summer of 1802 Livingston had written a series of pa- 
pers — -"Memoires" he called them — setting forth in unan- 
swerable logic the inexpediency of France's making an ef- 
fort to seize and colonize Louisiana. At least one of these 
fell under the eye of Napoleon, and it may have had some 
weight in the bringing about of an abandonment of his first 
determination. 

Still Livingston seemed to make no progress. Tal- 
leyrand assured him that no arrangement with the United 
States was possible. Yet our envoy very deliberately gave 
it as his opinion that "the whole will end in a relinquish- 
ment of the country, and transfer of the capital to the Uni- 
ted States." Once or twice Livingston had suggested the 
purchase of that portion of Louisiana lying North of the 
mouth of the Arkansas, but this point was not seriously 
pressed, nor did any other statesman propose it. 

In common with many other prominent Frenchmen, 
it was not the desire of Talleyrand to part with Louisiana. 
He would see France once more in the possession of her 
old domain in America. Throughout France was this hope 
long cherished. To see the tricolor firmly planted in the 
Mississippi Valley, setting bounds to the United States, 
controlling the great river, threatening Canada, and, it 
might be, restoring the fleur-de-lis to that great fortress 
from the walls of which Wolfe had torn it, — so ran the 
dream of Talleyrand and his followers. 

On April 7th occurred the memorable scenes between 
the First Consul and his brothers, as we have narrated. 
After these quarrels. Napoleon had consulted his ministers. 
To them he had said that "to free the world from the com- 
mercial tyranny of England, it is necessary to oppose to her 



134 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

a maritime power which will one day become her rival. 
It must be the United States. The English aspire to dis- 
pose of all the riches of the world. I shall be useful to the 
entire universe if I can prevent them from dominating 
America as they dominate Asia." 

On Easter Sunday, April 10th, Napoleon summoned 
Barbe-Marbois and Decres, the Minister of the Marine, 
ajid addressed them as follows: "1 know the worth of Louis- 
iana and I have wished to repair the error of the French 
negotiator who abandoned it in 1762. I have recovered it 
on paper through some lines in a treaty; but I have hardly 
done so when I am about to lose it again. ... The 
English shall not have the Mississippi, which they covet. 
They have already twenty vessels in the Gulf of Mexico. 
They swagger over these seas as sovereigns: and in San 
Domingo, since the death of Le Clerc, our affairs are grow- 
ing from bad to worse. The conquest of Louisiana will be 
easy if they will only take the trouble to descend upon it, 
1 have not a moment to lose in putting it out of their power. 
I wish to take away from them even the idea that they will 
ever be able to own this colony. I contemplate turning it 
oyer to the United States. They are asking me for a 
single city in Louisiana, but I already regard the whole col- 
ony as lost, and it seems to me that in the hands of this 
rising power it will be more useful to the politics and even 
to the commerce of France than to attempt to keep it." 

On the 1 1th Talleyrand asked whether the Americans 
wished to have the whole of Louisiana. Livingston writes: 
"I told him no; that our wishes extended only to New Or- 
leans and the Floridas. He said that if they gave New 
Orleans the rest would be of little value." Besides, if the 
United States possessed the great Northwest (the greatest 
limit of the purchase Livingston deemed possible), it would 
place a barrier between the French possessions and Canada. 
But Talleyrand startled him by asking what price the Uni- 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 135 

ted States would pay for the whole of Louisiana. The 
reader knows what caused this change of attitude on the 
part of the minister. Livingston believed that the French 
representative trifled, and remarked that he was fearful his 
(Livingston's) governnricnt would consider its envoy a very 
indolent negotiator. Talleyrand laughed and assured the 
American that he should be given a certificate as evidence 
that he was the most importunate with whom the French- 
man had ever met. With this interview, Talleyrand steps 
off the stage. Napoleon had at hand a helper whom he 
deemed more trustworthy, — Barbe-Marbois. who, before 
the Revolution, had been Consul General in the United 
States, marrying there an American wife. Some years af- 
ter these portentous events (that is. in 1837) Marbois pub- 
lished a history of Louisiana, and it is largely to this work 
that subsequent historians are indebted for the details of the 
negotiations. 

At daybreak on the 1 1th, Barbe-Marbois. being sum- 
moned, found Napoleon busy with despatches, giving news 
of the warlike preparations of England, Presently the First 
Consul broke out: "It is not only New Orleans I will cede; 
it is the whole colony without any reservation. 1 know the 
value of what 1 abandon; I renounce it with the greatest 
regret. I direct you to negotiate this affair with the envoy 
of the United States. Do not await the arrival of Mr. 
Monroe. 1 require a great deal of money for this war. . 
. . 1 will be moderate, in consideration of the necessity 
in which I am of making this sale. I want 50.000,000 
francs, and for less than that sum 1 will not treat. 1 would 
rather make a desperate attempt to keep these fine coun- 
tries. Mr. Monroe is on the point of arriving. Neither 
this minister nor his colleague is prepared for a decision 
which goes infinitely beyond that they are about to ask of 
us. Begin by making them the overture without any sub- 
terfuge. You will acquaint me day by day, hour by hour, 



136 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

of your progress." Napoleon enjoined the greatest secre- 
cy, and asked that it be recommended to the American 
envoys as well. 

On page 65 of a work by Le Comte de Garden is re- 
corded this utterance by Napoleon: "Objection may be 
made that the Americans will prove to be too powerful for 
Europe in two or three centuries, but my plans do not take 
into account these remote contingencies. The Americans 
will have to give attention in the future to conflicts among 
the States of the Union. Confederations which call them- 
selves perpetual last only so long as the contracting parties 
find it to their interest not to break them, and it is to other 
present dangers to which we are exposed from the colossal 
power of England that I propose to apply a remedy."* This 
extract demonstrates that beside being a remarkable sol- 
dier, Napoleon was also no msan statesman. 

Livingston had several conferences with Barbe-Mar- 
bois. Knowing the French methods of diplomacy, the en- 
voy suspected that the new proposition was merely a move 
to gain time. He thought that to pay more than 30.000,- 
000 francs would be excessive. Napoleon had at first 
named 50,000,000 francs, but afterwards he doubled this 
sum. On the 12th, Monroe arrived. To him Livingston 
expressed the wish that an armed force had occupied New 
Orleans — he had no faith in the representations of Marbois. 

On April 13th began the serious work of the negotia- 
tions. Livingston writes that while the two Americans 
were at dinner, Marbois, who had been on friendly terms 
with both in the iJhited States, was descried through the 
window, walking in the garden, and at once invited in. The 
negotiations were resumed, and gradually it dawned upon 
the astonished Americans that Napoleon had really deter- 
mined to alienate the whole colony. Some company being 
present, Marbois departed, intimating that Livingston had 

* Howard's "History of the Louisiana Purchase." 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 137 

better call upon him that night at any time before eleven. 
Fully aroused to the impo/tance of the work at hand, this 
the envoy hastened to do. The negotiations now related 
to three points: the cession; the price; the spoliation claims. 
Of course the Americans were embarrassed by the fact that 
their instructions contemplated a transaction of no such 
magnitude, but they rose grandly to the occasion, and left 
to the future the justification of their actions. The exigen- 
cy of the case admitted of no delay. 

In his dispatch written the same night after his con- 
ference with Marbois. Livingston made the following aston- 
ishing suggestion: "If the price is too high, the outlay may 
be reimbursed by the sale of the territory West of the Mis- 
sissippi, with the right of sovereignty, to s6me power in 
Europe whose vicinity we should not fear." This is not 
precisely in accordance with what is now known as the 
Monroe Doctrine, and is strange reading in these twentieth 
century days. 

The price named by Marbois was one hundred million 
francs, but Livingston remarked. "We would be ready to 
purchase, provided the sum was reduced to reasonable lim- 
its." Marbois then named sixty millions, if the Americans 
would assume the spoliation claims to the amount of twen- 
ty millions. Livingston declared the sum greatly beyond 
our means, and added that the field opened was infinitely 
larger than his instructions, but he would consult Monroe. 
On the 15th, Livingston offered fifty millions and to assume 
the debts, but Napoleon is said to have received this offer 
coldly. The uncertainty of the boundary was a source of 
trouble, but Napoleon declared that if obscurity did not ex- 
ist, it \vould be well to put one there. The First Consul 
went off to Flanders and left the negotiations at a standstill, 
when our ministers wisely concluded to accept his terms. 

The pledge given to Spain at San Udefonso that Louis- 
iana should never be alienated by France was wholly dlsre- 



138 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

garded. Napoleon himself proposed a stipulation that the 
people of Louisiana should straightway be incorporated into 
the Union, with all the rights and immunities of American 
citizens. The three agreements were arranged to the sat- 
isfaction of all, and were ready for signing on April 30th. 
Three days later, the copies in English and in French hav- 
ing been prepared, the signatures of the negotiators were 
affixed thereto. 

When the treaty had been signed, Napoleon declared, 
'•I have given England a rival which, sooner or later, will 
humble her pride." Said Livingston, "We have lived long, 
but this is the noblest work of our lives. The instruments 
■ which we have signed will cause no tears to be shed; they 
prepare ages of happiness for innumerable generations of 
human creatures," 

Thus was the great treaty concluded. The idea of 
such a transaction originated with Napoleon. To Living- 
ston is due the honor of the negotiations on the part of the 
United States. Monroe was not presented until after the 
matter was closed. Napoleon on the part of France— Liv- 
ingston on the part of the United States. 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 1 39 




THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 

VI. 

THE PARTY WRANGLE OVER THE PURCHASE. 

N THE 12th of May. 1803. a copy of the great 
treaty was forwarded to Washington by a safe 
messenger — Mr. Hughes. — together with other 
papers and dispatches. Two other copies were 
also transmitted by other agencies, but that entrusted to 
Mr. Hughes was the first to reach the President, being de- 
livered on July 14th. Who can picture the astonishment 
of the administration when the magnitude of the transaction 
was realized? Jefferson had asked for a single city, and a 
province as large as the United States itself was thrust up- 
on him. He had been authorized to expend two millions 
of dollars; the sum demanded in the stipulations was fifteen 
millions. His first move was to write a letter to Monroe, 
declaring that he could not approve of the -treaty, because, 
if he did. he would make waste paper of the constitution. 
As a strict constructionist, he could not, and for a while, 
did not, consider the purchdse of foreign territory a consti- 
tutional act. But his great common sense prevailed. He 
thought of the evil that would ensue should France take 
possession of Louisiana, and of the blessings certain to fol- 
low its incorporation into the territory of the Union. These 
considerations, and the senseless opposition of the Federal- 
ists, enabled Jefferson to surmount the seemingly impass- 
ible barrier. 

Two urgent letters from Livingston contributed much 



140 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

toward bringing about Jefferson's change of base. The en- 
voy wrote that the First Consul was already beginning to 
rue his bargain and had instructed Marbois to take advant- 
age of any loopholes or technicalities in the line of ratifica- 
tion or prompt payment to get rid of an unfortunate agree- 
ment, — now that an era of friendly feeling between France 
and England had been restored. Livingston begged the 
President, for the love of his country, to hasten ratification 
without the change of a word or a stipulation; to literally 
and immediately comply with the financial conditions, so 
that Bonaparte should not have a shadow of an excuse for 
evading his pledges and obligations. 

According to the second of the agreements, a conven- 
tion, it was called, sixty millions of francs, then estimated 
at eleven million, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, 
were to be put into a stock with interest at six per cent, 
payable semi-annually at London, Amsterdam, or Paris. 
Fifteen years after the ratification of the treaty, the pay- 
ment of the principal was to begin in yearly instalments of 
not less than three million dollars each. The value of the 
dollar was fixed at five and one-third francs. The third 
agreement, likewise designated a convention, treated of the 
debts or claims. None were to be paid except to creditors 
of France, for supplies, for losses by embargoes, for losses 
sustained at sea prior to the thirtieth of September, 1800; 
nor were those paid to amount, with interest, to more than 
twenty millions of francs. Up to June 30, 1880, the total 
cost of the purchase, principal, interest and debts assumed, 
amounted to $27,267,621.98. 

In addition to the terms of the treaty heretofore men- 
tioned, Article 7 read in part as follows: -'In the country 
ceded by the present treaty, it has been agreed between the 
contracting parties that the French ships coming directly 
from France or any of her colonies, loaded only with the 
produce or manufactures of France or her said colonies, 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 141 

and the ships of Spain coming directly from Spain or any 
of her colonies, shall be admitted during the space of twelve 
years in the port of New Orleans, and in all other legal 
ports of entry within the ceded territory, in the same man- 
ner as the ships of the United States coming directly from 
France or Spain, or any of their colonies, without being 
subject to any other or greater duty on merchandise, or 
other or greater tonnage than those paid by the citizens of 
the United States." 

In 1803 only a remnant of the great Federalist party 
remained, and these had degenerated into mere obstruc- 
tionists. The success of Jefferson, the enactment and the 
institution of promised reforms, the reduction of the public 
debt by five millions in two years when the Federalists had 
increased it by eight millions in five years, had caused tens 
of thousands of independerit thinkers to sever their alle- 
giance to the party of Hamilton and go over to the Repub- 
licans. "They had seen the Federalists go to the very lim- 
it of constitutional taxation in the laying of a direct tax. 
They had seen the Rupublicans dry every source of inter- 
nal revenue, and still have money to spare. Never had 
the government been so smoothly, so savingly, carried on. 
With such an administration they could find no fault."* 
To the narrow partisans remaining in the Federalist ranks, 
nothing which Thomas Jefferson did was right. His ad- 
administration was a political Gomorrah out of which no 
good could possibly come. Mere obstructionists — the po- 
liticai sect to be the most despised, — they contended that 
not until the reins of government should again be entrusted 
to their hands would the country be safe, and received 
news of the best and wisest act of the administration with 
a roar of execration. 

This was the character of the men who opposed the 
purchase of Louisiana, and they were largely instrumental 

* McMaster's History of the People of the United States. 



1 42 CLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

in forcing Jefferson to change his strict views in regard to 
the constitution. To epitomize from McMaster's "History 
of the People of the United States," they worried lest the 
Eastern States should become depopulated by the new ac- 
quisition of territory; lest a great emigration should set in 
and a new republic be founded beyond the Mississippi; that 
no common ties of interest could bind together men who 
fought Indians and trapped bears on the upper Missouri, 
and men who built ships and caught fish in the harbors of 
Maine; that the national debt would be enormously in- 
creased by the purchase. Indeed Federalist writers and 
printers all over the land vied with one another in their at- 
tempts to impress upon the people what an enormous sum 
was fifteen million dollars. 

"Fifteen millions of dollars! they would exclaim. The 
sale of a wilderness has not usually commanded a price so 
high. Ferdinand Gorges received but £1250 for the Prov- 
ince of Maine. William Penn gave for the wilderness that 
now bears his name but a trifle over £5,000. Fifteen mil- 
lions of dollars! A breath will suffice to pronounce the 
words. A few strokes of the pen will express the sum on 
paper. But not one man in a thousand has any concep- 
tion of the magnitude of the amount. Weigh it, and there 
will be 433 tons of solid silver. Load it into wagons, and 
there will be 866 of them. Place the wagons in a line, 
giving two rods to each, and they will cover a distance of 
five and one-third miles. Hire a laborer to shovel it into 
the carts, and, though he load sixteen each day, he will not 
finish the work in two months. Stack it up dollar on dol- 
lar, and the pile will be more than three miles high. It 
will load twenty-five sloops; it would pay an army of 25,000 
men fort> shillings a week each for twenty-five years; it 
would, divided among the population of the country, give 
three dollars to each man, woman and child. All the gold 
and all the silver coin in the Union would, if collected, fall 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 143 

vastly short of such a sum. We must, therefore, create a 
stock, and for fifteen years to come, pay $2,465 interest 
each day. Invest the principal as a school fund, and the 
interest will support, forever, eighteen hundred free schools, 
allowing fifty scholars and five hundred dollars to each 
school. For whose benefit is this purchase made? The 
South and West. Will they pay a share of the debt? No, 
for the tax on whiskey has been removed." 

But the labors of the Federalists came to nought. Ex- 
cepting in New England (where, it is said, in old families 
to this day the tradition remains of the rancor with which 
Jefferson was regarded), the people generally looked upon 
the purchase as an immense bargain, and eagerly demanded 
its ratification. Jefferson and his advisers rose grandly to 
the necessities of the occasion. The President advocated 
an amendment to the constitution, legalizing such acquisi- 
tions of foreign territory, but on this point he and his cabi- 
net could not reach an agreement. At length a friend per- 
suaded the President that the treaty-making power of the 
constitution covers the case, — an interpretation since gen- 
erally accepted. The terms of the treaty required that it 
should be ratified within six months. This limit expired 
on October 30th. Congress was convened on October 
17th, and two days later, after strenuous, but ineffectual 
opposition by the Federalists, the House, being in Commit- 
tee of the Whole, adopted three resolutions by a vote of 90 
to 25, to the effect that, (1) provision should be made to 
carry the treaty into operation; (2) the matter of provision- 
al government should be referred to a special committee; 
(3) the Committee on Ways and Means should be charged 
with raising the purchase money. In the House. Gaynor 
Griswold. of New York, was the leader of the opposition. 

When the matter came up in the Senate. Timothy 
Pickering, of Massachusetts, led the oppositon. but no new 
arguments were advanced by his side. He contended that 



144 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

the treaty was unconstitutional, because no provision was 
made for carrying it out. No acquisition of foreign territo- 
ry, he declared, was contemplated or provided for, and ought 
therefore to be regarded as impossible. But the vote in 
the Senate stood 26 to 5 in favor of ratification. 

Another wrangle over the question of government in 
the new purchase then arose. The proposition having been 
made that the President should administer the territory 
provisionally until Congress should arrange for its govern- 
ment, the Federalists declared that Jefferson was to step 
into the shoes of Carlos IV, for a time, to administer a tyr- 
anny, thus legalizing Spanish despotism on American soil; 
that he was to be equipped with three powers — executive, 
judicial and legislative. But these objections — which read 
much like those urged by minorities in Congress these days 
— availed nothing. The measure became a law on Octo- 
ber 31st, and shortly afterwards a bill authorizing the cre- 
ation of a stock of eleven million, two hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars was passed. These acts of Congress left 
New England very much discontented and nearly ready for 
secession. The balance of power, it was contended, was 
inclining quite too strongly toward the South and West. 

In his life of Monroe, in the "American Statesmen" 
series, Daniel C. Oilman remarks that in this extraordinary 
chapter of history, there appear the ambition of Napoleon, 
the sagacity of Jefferson, the diplomacy of Talleyrand and 
Marbois, the caution of Livingston, and the enthusiasm of 
Monroe. Yet back of these were the English determination 
to put down the rising dominion of Napoleon; the willing- 
ness of Spain to give up New Orleans; the resolution of 
America to secure the Mississippi outlet; the readiness of 
France to build up in the new world a powerful rival to 
Great Britain. France needed ready money; the United 
States, by a wise financial policy, was in good standing at 
Amsterdam — at that period the leading financial center. 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 145 

On the 24th of June, Monroe took formal leave of Bo- 
naparte, as President Jefferson had directed him to act as 
charge at London. To Napoleon he gave an expression of 
American good will, and the First Consul replied that no 
one wished more than himself the preservation of a good 
understanding; that the cession he had made was not so 
much on account of the price given as from motives of pol- 
icy; and that he wished for friendship between the republics. 

A recent writer has this to say regarding the signifi- 
cance of the Louisiana Purchase: "The international ef- 
fects were even more significant than the political effects. 
From it dates the end of the struggle for the possession of 
the Mississippi Valley and the beginning of the transfer of 
the ascendency in both Americas to the United States. 
Even the English veterans of the Napoleonic battles were 
unable to wrest New Orleans from Andrew Jackson in the 
war of 1812. The acquisition of Florida, Texas, California 
and the possessions won by the United States in the recent 
Spanish- American war are, in a sense, the corollaries of 
this great event. France, England and Spain, removed 
from the strategic points on our border, were prevented 
from occupying the controlling position in determining the 
destiny of the American provinces which so soon revolted 
from the empire of Spain. It was the logical outcome of 
that acquisition. Having taken her decisive stride across 
the Mississippi, the United States enlarged the horizon of 
her views and marched steadily forward to the possession 
of the Pacific Ocean. From this event dates the rise of 
the United States into the position of a world power." 



146 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 
VII. 

TAKING POSSESSION. 

N MARCH. 1803, the French Prefect Laussat ar- 
rived in New Orleans to take possession of Louisi- 
ana in the name of France. To be sure he had no 
idea that Napoleon contemplated ceding the terri- 
tory to the United States. On the contrary, he was partic- 
ularly hostile to the Americans, and openly regretted that 
the Spanish government had reversed the decree of the 
Intendant Morales, taking away from the pioneers of the 
Ohio Vall«y the right of deposit, and began his preparations 
on the belief that the Crescent City was to become the base 
for important aggressive military movements. 

In Maurice Thompson's excellent "Story of Louisiana" 
occurs this passage concerning the city at this period: 
"New Orleans had begun to look like a city with its quaint 
and beautiful, if rambling and primitive houses, its tree- 
shaded streets, its clumps of palmettos and its wilderness 
of roses. Twelve thousand people were within its walls, 
and although they were, in most regards and taken as a 
body, a reckless, gambling, duelling, immoral psople, they 
were restrained by the hand of a strong government and by 
the high example and gentle influence of a few excellent 
and cultured families." 

Laussat was not kindly received by the French inhab- 
itants. They had heard the rumor that it was the intention 
of Napoleon to emancipate the slaves of the territory, hence 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 147 

the joy given by the first thought of returning to their form- 
er allegiance was quickly dispelled. Their prosperity de- 
pended upon the continued existence of slavery. 

It was not until the thirtieth of November, 1803, that 
Laussat formally received the territory from Governor Sal- 
cedo and Casso Calvo, the latter having been deputized by 
tarlos IV to assist in the transfer. It was a ceremony of 
much pomp and display. The representatives of the two 
Latin nations, both given to ceremony, vied with one an- 
other, in those Western wilds, in the splendors of their 
courtly rivalry. But sixteen Ursuline nuns, terrorized at 
the prospect of passing under the rule of a nation that a few 
years previously had driven out religion, sought and obtained 
permission to retire to Cuba. "On Whitsunday they came 
fprth hooded and veiled. Their old pupils thronged the 
garden as they passed through; their slaves knelt at the 
gateway; tne dignitaries and the humbler people followed 
them tearfully to the waterside." 

Victor was expected to arrive at any day, and the pop- 
ulace made ready the tricolored cockades which were to be 
assumed after the lowering of the Spanish flag. But before 
that event, a vessel from Bordeau brought the astounding 
intelligence that the province was to be transferred to the 
United States; and presently Laussat received his creden- 
tials, appointing him to conduct the ceremony. Seventeen 
days after the descent of the Spanish banner, the American 
commissioners, with their escort of troops, *^ent Into camp 
two miles outside the city. 

The United States, after the ratification of the treaty, 
lost no time in taking possession of the new purchase. It 
made haste for at least two reasons: (1) The Spanish min- 
ister at Washington made several protests against the ces- 
sion, alleging that Bonaparte had never carried out the 
terms of the treaty of San Ildefonso; (2) there was danger 
that either the Spanish troops, still in New Orleans, or the 



148 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

Spanish or the French Inhabitants, or both, would resist 
the transfer. 

There stands to-day in New Orleans a building which, 
one hundred years ago, surpassed in elegance every other 
civic structure in America. Then it was called the Cabildo; 
now, it is the supreme court building, — still picturesque and 
imposing. In the council chamber thereof and on the bal- 
cony adjacent were enacted those ceremonies which trans- 
ferred the ownership of Louisiana from France to the Uni- 
ted States, Brief was the reign of the tricolor over the 
territory. Twenty days from the lowering of the red and 
yellow ensign of Spain saw flung to the breeze the starry 
emblem of the American Republic. With this ceremony 
ended forever the French struggle for empire in the New 
World. In vain had been the enterprise of Champlain, the 
tribulations of La Salle, the zeal of Marquette, th* intre- 
pidity of Montcalm, the sacrifices of Jesuit and Sulpitian 
and Recollet fanatics, the labors of Frontenac and scores 
of other brilliant Frenchmen. Two volcanic specks — St. 
Pierre and Miquelon — were the only rewards for all those 
years of intrigue and peculation and deprivation and blood- 
shed and financial burdens under the snowy lilies of France. 
Of such is the uncertainty of human effort. 

At nine o'clock on the forenoon of December 20th. 
Clement Laussat, the reprasentative of the First Consul, 
awaited on the central balcony of the Cabildo the arrival of 
the American commissioners. The city was decorated en 
fete. In the river were moored many vessels, gaily dressed 
with parti-colored flags. On every balcony and other point 
of vantage were gathered throngs of people to witness the 
ceremonies. Shortly before noon was heard the signal-gun 
which the Americans agreed to fire when they started from 
camp. A second gun announced that they had passed 
through the Tchoupitoulas Gate and were nearing the Ca- 
bildo. The French batteries, manned by Spanish artiller- 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 149 

Ists, thundered a salute of twenty-four guns. On the stroke 
of twelve the Americans filed into the Place d'Armes — now 
Jackson Square. At their head rode Wilkinson, com- 
mander-in-chief of the army of the United States (corrupt 
and a traitor to his flag, it was discovered later), and Wil- 
liam Charles Cole Claiborne, the first governor of the new 
purchase. These two were the commissioners designated 
by Jefferson to represent the United States. Their troops 
formed opposite the Cabildo while the commissioners were 
conducted to the council-chamber, where a throng of dig- 
nitaries received them with impressive gravity. Presently 
Laussat led the way to the balcony where he took his posi- 
tion in the chair of state, seating Claiborne at his right. 
After a statement of the object of the assembly and the 
reading of the respective credentials, the prefect formally 
announced the alienation ot Louisiana and all its dependen- 
cies, under the same limits and conditions that France had 
received them by the treaty of San lldefonso. The keys 
of the city Laussat then delivered into the hands of Clai- 
borne, saying in a loud voice: "I proclaim, in virtue of the 
powers with which I am vested, and the commission with 
which I am charged by the First Consul, that all citizens 
and inhabitants of Louisiana are from this moment absolved 
from their oath of fidelity to the French Republic." He 
then seated Claiborne In the chair of state. The latter re- 
sponded In English, after which the proces-verbal of the 
transfer was signed and sealed by the commissioners and 
then read. In French and In English, to the assembled 
multitude. 

Says McMaster: "To the crowd that stood that day 
on the Place d'Armes, the promise of Claiborne that this 
transfer should be the last meant nothing, for, within the 
lifetime of men then living, Louisiana had changed her 
rulers six times. Ninety-one years before, when scarcely 
a thousand white men dwelt on her soil, Louis XiV had 



150 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

r 

farmed Louisiana to Antoine Crozat, the merchant monop- 
olist of his day. Crozat, unable to use it, made it over in 
1717 to John Law, Director-General of the Mississippi 
Company, which surrendered it in 1731 to Louis XV, who 
gave it in 1762 to the King of Spain, who made it over to 
Napoleon, who sold it to the United States." 

At the conclusion of the reading, the tricolor of the 
French Republic began slowly to descend from the tall 
flag-staff over the Cabildo, while at the same time the stars 
and stripes as slowly rose. Midway of the staff the two 
banners paused a moment and entwined their folds in a 
friendly salutation. Presently the colors of the American 
Union waved in triumph from the top of the staff, while 
salvos of artillery and the shouts of the onlookers rent the 
air. The ladies from the gracefully wrought balconies 
joined enthusiastically in the applause. A French officer 
received the tricolor, wrapped It around his body and strode 
away to the barracks. 

With the events at New Orleans we are not further 
concerned; but later, at St. Louis, in what was known as 
Upper Louisiana, occurred a ceremony which now demands 
our attention. 

At the time of the retrocession of Louisiana to France 
and its subsequent cession to the United States, the gov- 
ernor of Upper Louisiana was Charles Dehault Delassus, a 
Frenchman in the service of Spain. It is reasonably clear 
that the first intimation the citizens of St. Louis (the capi- 
tal of Upper Louisiana) had of the sale of the territory was 
in a letter received by Governor Delassus from William 
Henry Harrison, governor of the Northwest Territory, with 
headquarters at "Old Vincennes."* 

* Under date of August 2, 1803, Governor Harrison wrote to 
Governor Delassus: "Since 1 wrote you last, 1 liave received very 
important intelligence. It is no other than the entire cession of 
New Orleans and the whole of Louisiana to the United States.' ' 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 151 

Within the brief space of twenty-four hours, ths terri- 
tory now included in the State of Missouri was under the 
dominion of three nations — Spain, France and the United 
States. But two men took part, as principals, in this triple 
transfer, — two men speaking in different tongues and legal- 
ly representing three nations. The first of these men, De- 
lassus, has been mentioned. The second. Amos Stoddard, 
was a captain in the American army. These transfers were 
bloodless ones. Thunders of cannon there were, and the 
clank of swords and the shouts of command; but the cannon 
sounded only in salutes, the swords clanked only in parade, 
while the commands were those of officers marching their 
troops in review. 

The first official notice the inhabitants of Upper Louis- 
iana had of the approaching change of rulers was in an or- 
der issued by Governor Delassus on February 19th, 1804, 
though for some months rumors of the cession had been 
current. The news of the treaty of San Ildefonso had been 
doubted, and the rumors of the sale to the United States 
wholly discredited; but in time both were confirmed. In 
order to avoid any technicality, or any quibble, as to the 
amount of territory transferred, it was deemed expedient 
to have a separate and additional surrender of the upper 
province. To accomplish this, it was necessary to Invest 
some one with authority to act for France, that he might 
officially accept the title from Spain and transfer the same 
to the American purchaser. Laussat declined to act In 
this capacity, there was found no other Frenchman who 
could serve; so, objections to the irregularity being waived. 
Captain Stoddard was duly commissioned "agent and com- 
missioner for the French Republic." 

Captain Stoddard and the American troops 1o garrison 
the post reached St. Louis early in March, the latter going 
into camp at Cahokia. On the 8th the following order was 
posted about the village: 



152 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

"We notify the public that to-morrow, the ninth of the 
present month, between eleven and twelve o'clock, we will 
surrender this Upper Louisiana to Captain Amos Stoddard, 
agent and commissioner of the French Republic, as we 
have already announced by our proclamation dated the 19th 
of February last. 

"St. Louis of the Illinois, the eighth of March, 1804. 

"By order of Carlos Dehault Delassus. 

"Posted by the public writer, Jh. Hqrtir."* 

The capitol building at St. Louis was a one-story stone 
and wood structure, situated at the Southeast corner of 
Main and Walnut Streets — then known as La Rue de Prin- 
cipale and La Rue de la Tour. Across the street to the 
North was the Place d'Armes or public square and parade 
ground; beyond were the houses of Madame Chouteau and 
her two sons, Auguste and Pierre. In the distance to the 
North rose a great stone tower and near by stood a mill, 
while the big mound formed a background for them. To 
the West of the government building, on a slight elevation, 
stood the fort, a double stockade of logs set vertically, the 
space between being filled with soil and clay. At one point 
a stone tower rose to the height of sixty feet. The walls 
of fort and tower were pierced with loopholes of different 
sizes, out of the larger of which frowned the muzzles of 
brass cannon. This fort was a formidable structure, with 
ample space within to shelter every one of the thousand in- 
habitants of the village. To the East flowed the Mississip- 
pi, yellow-stained as to-day with the dark floods of the tur- 
bid Missouri. 

The morning of the ninth came. There was no work 
by the villagers that day. Silent were the forge and the 
looms; left undone were the labors of the husbandmen. 
The town was athrong with visitors. There were syndics 
and commandants and subjects from Carondelet, Ste. Gen- 

* There was no printing press in St. Louis at the time. The 
notice posted was written in Spanish. 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 153 

evieve. St. Charles, Cape Girardeau and New Madrid; there 
were visitors from Cahokia. Kaskaskia and Fort Chartres. 
on the American side of the great river; there were Indians 
from both sides, hideous in vermilion and ochre; and there 
were the inhabitants of the village itself, dressed in their 
holiday apparel. 

Shortly after dawn the American troops, under com- 
mand of Lieutenant Worrall, crossed over from Cahokia 
and marched into town. With them was Captain Meri- 
weather Lewis, soon to become a prominent figure in the 
development of the new territory. Captains Stoddard and 
Lewis made a formal call at the government house, where 
they were received by Delassus and the other dignitaries 
of the post. 

Presently the officials came out on the low piazza and 
Delassus addressed the people, telling them that by the 
command of King Carlos he was about to deliver the post 
and its dependencies into the hands of France. They were 
released from their oaths of allegiance to the Spanish flag, 
under the folds of which they had lived for almost forty 
years. He then placed Captain Stoddard in possession of 
the government house and the post. The captain replied 
briefly and conventionally — and the official transfer became 
a matter of history. Delassus made a sign to a soldier 
standing near, and the latter, springing upon the railing, 
waved his hand toward the fort on the hill, from which a 
cannon shot rang out, and at the same time the Spanish 
flags above the fort and the government building began to 
descend, while the tricolor of France was flung to the breeze. 

There was nothing spectacular about the ceremonies, 
little cheering and no demonstrations. The French inhab- 
itants were chagrined because for so brief a time was their 
banner to wave over the domain; while all the citizens were 
frightened by the reports circulated by unprincipled land 
speculators that the new rulers of the territory would not 
respect the titles of the owners to their little homes. But 



154 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

when they saw the flag of France waving over the town, 
the French Creoles begged that it be permitted to fly all 
night. Their prayer was granted. It had been forty years 
since that banner had waved over St. Louis, and at the 
sight of it many of the older Creoles wept for joy. 

And how did these Creoles spend that night of March 
9th, 1804? Says the old national proverb, "La France- - 
danse!" And so it was the French of St. Louis, under 
their beloved lilies, sang and danced all that night — even 
until the rising sun dispelled the mists over in the Cahokia 
bottoms. With them, that was the very idealism of enjoy- 
ment. And others, of a more sober temperament, crowded 
the little church on Second Street, which resounded with 
prayers until morning. 

At early dawn the tricolored flag was lowered and in 
its stead floated the stars and stripes. For more than nine- 
ty and nine years has this emblem kept its place over St. 
Louis and the entire purchase. Never in all those years 
has it been trailed in defeat, while more signal than its vic- 
tories on the field of carnage have been those of peace and 
progressiveness and commercial supremacy. 

Thus it was that the residents of St. Louis and of Mis- 
souri were under the Spanish flag on the morn of March 
9th, 1804; saw over them by the fading light of that day 
the tricolor of France; and by the dawn's early light on the 
tenth the starry emblem of the United States met their 
gaze.* 

♦Fertile material used in the sicetch of tliis second transfer, 
the autlior is indebted to some articles tiiat appeared during 1902 
in the St. Louis Republic. Their author is unknown, but they 
were prepared from the archives preserved by the Missouri Histor- 
ical Society. 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 155 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 
VIII. 

THE TERRITORY AT THE TIME OF THE PURCHASE. 




EFFERSON. while the purchase treaty was pend- 
ing in the Senate, caused to be prepared, from 
the meager accounts of the territory tha^ had 
reached the officials, what is the most remarkable 
document ever transmitted to Congress by any President. 
A few extracts will suffice to show its remarkableness: 

"There is no other settlement on the Mississippi ex- 
cept the small one called Concord until you come to the 
Arkansas River. Here there are but a few families, »/ho 
are more attached to the Indian trade than to cultivation. 
There is no settlement from this place to New Madrid, 
which is itself inconsiderable. Ascending the river, you 
come to Cape Girardeau, Ste. Genevieve and St. Louis, 
where they raise little for transportation and content them- 
selves with trading with the Indians and working a few lead 
mines. This country is very fertile, especially on the banks 
of the Missouri, where there have been formed two settle- 
ments called St. Charles and St. Andrew, mostly by emi- 
grants from Kentucky. The peltry procured in the Illinois 
is the best sent to the Atlantic market, and the quantity is 
very considerable. Lead is to be had with ease, and in 
such quantities as to supply all Europe, If the population 
were sufficient to work the numerous mines to be found 
within two or three feet of the surface in various parts of 
the country. The settlements about the Illinois were first 



156 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

made by the Canadians, and the inhabitants still resemble 
them in their aversion to labor and love of a wandering life, 
"When compared v/ith the Indiana territory, the face 
of the country in Upper Louisiana is rather more broken, 
though the soil is equally fertile. It is a fact not generally 
contested that the West side of the river possesses some 
advantages not generally incident to those regions. It is 
elevated and healthy, and well watered with a variet> of 
large, rapid streams, calculated for mills and other water 
works. From Cape Girardeau to the Missouri, the land on 
the East side of the Mississippi is low and flat and occa- 
sionally exposed to inundations; that on the Louisiana side, 
contiguous to the river, is generally much higher, and in 
many places very rocky on the shore. Some of the heights 
exhibit a scene truly picturesque. They rise to a height of 
at least three hundred feet, faced with perpendicular lime 
and freestone, carved into various shapes and figures by the 
hand of nature, and afford the appearance of a multitude of 
antique towers. It may be said with truth that for fertility 
of soil no part of the world exceeds the borders of the Mis- 
sissippi; the land yields an abundance of the necessaries of 
life, and almost spontaneously, very little labor being re- 
quired In the cultivation of the earth. That part of Upper 
Louisiana which borders on North Mexico is one immense 
prairie; it produces nothing but grass; it is filled with deer, 
buffalo and other gamii; the land is represented to be too 
rich for the growth of forest trees. 

"It is pretended that Upper Louisiana contains many 
silver and copper mines, and various specimens of both are 
exhibited. Several trials have been made to ascertain the 
fact, but the want of skill in the artists have hitherto left 
the subject undecided. 

"The salt works are also pretty numerous; some belong 
to individuals, others to the public. They already yield an 
abundant supply for the consumption of the country, and 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 157 

might become an article of more general exportation. The 
usual price per bushel is 150 cents in cash at the works. 
One extraordinary fact relative to salt must not be omitted. 
There exists about 1,000 miles up the Missouri, and not far 
from that river, a Salt Mountain! The existence of such a 
mountain might well be questioned, were it not for the tes- 
timony of several respectable and enterprising traders who 
have visited it. and who have exhibited several bushels of 
the salt to the curiosity of the people of St. Louis, where 
some of it still remains. A specimen of the same salt has 
been sent to Marietta. This mountain is said to be 180 
miles long and 45 in width, composed of solid rock salt, 
without any trees or even shrubs on it. Salt springs are 
numerous beneath the surface of the mountain, and they 
flow through the fissures and cavities of it." 

"On the river St. Francis. In the neighborhood of New 
Madrid, Cape Girardeau, Riviere a la Pomme, and the en- 
virons, are settled a number of vagabond Indians, emigrants 
from the Delawares, Shawnees. Miamis, Chickasaws, Cher- 
okees, Piorias, and supposed to consist in all of five hun- 
dred families: they are at times troublesome to the boats 
descending the river, and have even plundered some of 
them, and committed a few murders. They are attached 
to liquor, seldom remain long In any place, many of them 
speak English, all understand it, and there are some who 
even read and write it. 

"At Ste. Genevieve, in the settlements among the 
whites, are about thirty Piorias, Kaskaskias and Illinois, 
who seldom hunt for fear of the other Indians; they are the 
remains of a nation which, fifty years ago, could bring Into 
the field one thousand, two hundred warriors. 

"On the Missouri and its waters are many and numer- 
ous nations, the best known of which are: the Osages, situ- 
ated on the river of the same name; they consist of one 



158 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

thousand warriors, who live in two settlements at no great 
distance from each other. They are of a gigantic stature 
and well proportioned, and comoiit depredations from the 
Illinois to the Arkansas. They are a cruel and ferocious 
race, and are hated and feared by all the other Indians. 

"Sixty leagues higher up the Missouri is the river 
Kansas, and on it the nation of the same name, but at about 
seventy or eighty leagues from its mouth. It consists of 
about two hundred and fifty warriors, who are as fierce and 
cruel as the Osages. and often molest and ill-treat those 
who go to trade among them." 

"Until within a few years the governor of Upper Louis- 
iana was authorized to make surveys of any extent. In the 
exercise of this discretionary power, some abuse was com- 
mitted; a few small monopolies were created. About three 
years ago he was restricted in this branch of his duty, since 
which he has been authorized to make surveys to emigrants 
in the following manner: two hundred acres for each man 
and wife, fifty acres for each child, and twenty acres for 
each slave. Hence the quantity of land allowed to settlers 
depended on the number in each family; and for this quan- 
tity of land they paid no more than the expense of survey. 
These surveys were necessary to entitle the settlers to 
grants; and the governor, and after him the intendant at 
New Orleans, was alone authorized to execute grants on 
the receipt of the surveys from the settlers." 

Of the story of the salt mountain, McMaster says (Vol. 
II, page 631): "Everywhere the Federalists read the story 
with the scoffs and jeers it so richly deserved. Can the 
mountain, one journal asked, be Lot's wife? Has the Pres- 
ident, asked another, been reading the 'Mysteries of Udol- 
pho'? What a dreadful glare it must make on a sunshiny 
day! exclaimed a third. No trees on it? How strange! 
There ought surely to be a salt eagle to perch on its sum- 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 159 

mit and a salt mammoth to clamber up its side. The Pres- 
ident, being a cautious philosopher, has surely been afraid 
to tell us all. He must have kept much back, else we 
should have seen some samples from that vale of hasty pud- 
ding and that lake of real old Irish usquebaugh that lies at 
the mountain's base. The stories told fourteen years since 
about the Ohio country are now surpassed. The pump- 
kin-vines, the hoop-snakes, the shoe-and-stocking tree of 
the Muskingum, are but 'pepper-corns' beside the moun- 
tain of salt." 

In a former article a sketch of life under the French 
and the Spanish regimes was presented.* Some progress 
had been made by 1804, but the customs of the settlers 
were still quite primitive. During the latter half of the 
eighteenth century, the pioneers of Louisiana made little 
advancement in their mode of living. 

A varied assortment of goods composed the stock of 
the territorial merchants. Even as late as 1851, a house 
with headquarters at St. Louis advertised molasses, hams, 
corn, coffee, cod fish, tobacco, soap, candles, whiskey, gin, 
beer, wine, powder, shot, caps, gun wadding, indigo, nails, 
and window glass. 

The Indians were good customers of these pioneer 
merchants, and, like their white neighbors, often purchased 
supplies on credit, giving notes therefor. But when an In- 
dian signed a note for goods, he insisted on keeping such 
note himself, as a reminder, he argued, when it came time 
to pay. Not until a note was paid would an Indian surren- 
der it to a storekeeper; and to their credit be it said that 
the red men were much more prompt in paying debts than 
were their white neighbors. 

/ The dwellings were built of logs held together by notch- 
es at the corners — that is, a notch in each log fit the roof- 

*See ante, page 87. 



160 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

shaped cut of the one next below. They were one-story 
structures, and the gables were fashioned by making each 
succeeding log shorter at each end than the one preceding, 
with the ends beveled to the required slope. At the sides 
small logs or poles were built in with these shortened end- 
logs, forming supports for the roof of "clap-boards." These 
were split or riven from short sections of logs with a tool 
called a froe. At first the logs were left as they grew, but 
later cabins were built of logs hewn on two sides, so that 
the wall, within ar.d without, would be comparatively smooth. 
The openings between the logs were "chinked" with pieces 
of wood and then plastered with clay. The floor in many 
cases was composed of dirt, though often split logs, forming 
puncheons, the flat side uppermost and neatly fitted Togeth- 
er, were used. Little or no iron was used in the erection 
of these primitive dwellings. The door was hung with wood- 
en hinges, while a wooden latch kept it closed. One end 
of a buckskin string fastened to this latch, and the other 
passing through a hole above, served to open the door from 
without. To fasten the door, it was only necessary to pull 
the string within the room. From this device originates 
the saying, "The latch-string is always out." The boards 
forming the roof were held in place by heavy timbers. 

Over the door, within the room, was the inevitable rifle, 
powder horn and bullet pouch. A huge fireplace at one end 
served for both heating and cooking purposes. A Dutch 
oven, an iron pot, and perhaps a coffeepot, completed the 
culinary economy. Corn meal and wild game supplied the 
bulk of the food, "Corn pone" or "corn dodgers," lye hom- 
iny, bread made of corn meal and pumpkin, and pork and 
bacon were common. Oiled paper served for glass. The 
great chimney, on the outside of the house, was built of 
sticks and clay, the fireplace, perhaps, being lined with stone. 

The sod of the prairies was first turned with huge plows, 
cutting a shallow furrow twenty inches or two feet in width. 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 161 

and drawn by four, five, or six yoke of oxen. The decay- 
ing vegetation in the freshly- plowed prairie caused malaria, 
"chills and fever." or "the shakes," to sweep the country 
every fall season. Scarcely a family escaped. 

The corn was "pestled" in a stump or a section of a 
log, the end hollowed out into a bowl-shaped cavity by burn- 
ing and chopping; or it was drawn by the slowly-plodding ox 
teams for miles to a mill. Sometimes on these trips the 
husband would be absent for more than a week. 

Meager in the extreme was the housekeeping "outfit" 
of a newly-married couple. It is related that a visitor once 
found such a couple seated on the dirt floor of their little 
cabin, eating mush from an iron pot, with but one spoon 
between them. This pot and spoon, and a rude bed in one 
corner, constituted their household effects. 

House-raisings and weddings were events of paramount 
importance in the social life of the early settlers. A dance 
or some other kind of entertainment followed each. Chairs 
were scarce, so the girls sat on the laps of one another, or 
on the knees of the young men. Kissing games were in 
great favor. The men made free use of whiskey, and brute 
strength was the test of manhood. The neighborhood hero 
was he who could vanquish all comers. These fights did 
not often result seriously, as it was unusual to resort to oth- 
er weapons than the fist. 

"Gander-pulling" was a common sport. One of these 
unlucky fowls would be suspended, head down, at a suitable 
height from a branch of a tree, and the participants in the 
sport, mounted on horseback, would ride at full speed under 
the squawking bird and mak'i a grab at its head. A prize 
awaited him who succeeded in jerking the gander's head 
from its body. People came for miles to witness this sport. 

It is related that at one time a genuine Missourian was 
loitering about the headquarters of a negro dealer in St. 
Louis. Presently the dealer, a Kentuckian, asked the Mis- 



162 CLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

sourian. "Can I do anything for you?" The man replied 
that he would like to purchase a negro, and was invited to 
walk in and inspect those for sale. Having made a choice, 
he inquired the price. "Five hundred dollars," replied the 
trader; "but. according to custom, you may have a year's 
credit on the purchase." But the thought of having such 
a debt hanging over him for a year staggered the Missou- 
rian. "No, no," he exclaimed, "I would rather pay six 
hundred at once and be done with it." "Very well," re- 
plied the trader, "anything to accommodate;" and the sale 
was consummated for six hundred in cash. 

In April, 1804. the next month after the cession to the 
United States, William C. Carr arrived in St. Louis, having 
been twenty-five days coming by boat from Louisville. At 
that date there were two other American families in the 
village — those of William Sullivan and Calvin Adams.* 
Life in St. Louis was so dull that a month later Mr. Carr 
located in the more thrifty village of Ste. Genevieve, but 
subsequently returned to St. Louis. 

♦Davis and Durrie's History of Missouri, page 36. 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 163 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 
IX. 

THE BOUNDARY DISPUTES. 

T WILL BE remembered that when Marbois spoke 
to Napoleon concerning the Indefiniteness of the 
boundaries of Louisiana, the First Consul replied, 
"If obscurity did not exist, it would be well to put 
one there." In the six transfers of Louisiana, not once 
had any attempt been made to state definitely the limits of 
the territory. By the treaty ceding the province to the 
United States, Louisiana was to be of "the same extent it 
now has in the hands of Spain, and that it had when France 
possessed it." The Gulf on the South, and the Mississippi 
on the East were the limits; but on the North and the West 
no man knew the extent of the purchase. And on the 
Southeast the boundary between Louisiana and Florida was 
equally indefinite. "What are the Eastern boundaries of 
Louisiana?" asked Livingston of Talleyrand when the treaty 
was being arranged. "I do not know," was the reply. "But 
what do you mean to take?" asked Livingston, — meaning 
from Spain by the treaty of San Ildefonso. "I do not kndW," 
replied Talleyrand. "Then you mean that we shall construe 
it in our own way?" asked Livingston. "I can give you no 
direction. You have made a noble bargain for yourselves, 
and I suppose you must make the most of it." 

"In none of the many transfers of Louisiana was any- 
thing approaching a complete and accurate boundary ever 
made. When Claiborne received it on behalf of the United 



J 64 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

States the Eastern boundary was the Mississippi River from 
its source to the parallel of thirty-one degrees. But where 
the source of the Mississippi was no man knew, and what 
became of the Eastern boundary below the parallel of thir- 
ty-one degrees was long unsettled. Americans claimed at 
least as far as the Perdido River; but Spain would acknowl- 
edge no claim East of the Mississippi and below thirty-one 
degrees, save the island of New Orleans. The South boun- 
dary was. of course, the Gulf; but whether it went to the 
Sabine or the Rio Bravo was still unknown. The moun- 
tains, wherever they might be, were believed to bound it on 
the West, and the possessions of Great Britain, wherever 
they might be, bounded it on the North."* 

These several controversies, and the final outcome of 
each, will now claim our attention. It is nor the purpose 
of the writer, however, to enter at length into a discussion 
of details, but merely to present the salient points of each, 
that the causes of the conflicting claims between the United 
States and the Iberian monarchy may be understood. 

On page 633 of Vol. II of his History, McMaster says: 
"That part of Oregon within the boundary of the United 
States has, since the publication of the Ninth Census, been 
often included in the Louisiana purchase. This is wholly 
wrong. Never at any time did Oregon form part of Louis- 
iana. Marbois denied it. Jefferson denied it. There is 
not a fragment of evid'snce in its behalf. Our claim to 
Oregon was derived, and derived solely, from the Florida 
treaty of 1819, the settlement at Astoria, the explorations 
of Lewis and Clark, and the discovery of the Columbia by 
Robert Gray." 

It is the contention of Land Commissioner Hermann, 
who, a few years ago, made an exhaustive research as to 
the extent of the Louisiana purchase, that Oregon became 

*McMaster's History of tlie People of tlie United States, Vol. 
Ill, page 14. 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 165 

a part of the United States, not by virtue of the treaty with 
Napoleon in 1803, but by reason of discovery in 1792, ex- 
ploration in 1805. the Astoria settlement in 1811, and the 
Florida treaty in 1819.* On page 72 Mr. Hermann sums 
up as follows: 

"A claim West of the Rockies through our purchase 
of Louisiana by reason of contiguity is especially untenable, 
because the Western limit of Louisiana was sufficiently 
definite, it being known that the highlands at the head of 
the Mississippi and its tributary waters constituted the boun- 
dary. The claim of contiguity most often arises where 
there is uncertainty as to limit. In the case of the discov- 
ery and exploration of a river, it extends to the country 
drained by that river. This being determined as the ac 
cepted rule, what reasoning can justify a claim for an ex- 
cess of territory on the ground of contiguity? Especially 
is it difficult to reconcile such a claim with justice where 
such excess is adversely claimed, as in the case of Spain 
to the country West of the Rockies, based on quite a good 
showing of long prior discovery and partial settlement." 

Thomas Jefferson, under date of December 31, 1816, 
wrote to Mellish, the English geographer: "On the waters 
of the Pacific we can found no claim in right of Louisiana. 
If Nv^ claim that country at all, it must be on Astor's set- 
tlement near the mouth of the Columbia, and the principle 
of the jus gentium of America, that when a civilized nation 
takes possession of the mouth of a river in a new country, 
that possession is considered as including all its waters." 

James 0. Broadhead, of St. Louis, a distinguished 
statesman and scholar, says. "All these sources of inform- 
ation establish beyond a reasonable doubt the fact that by 
the treaty of 1803 the territory ceded by France to the 

*In 1900 this report was published by the Department of the 
Interior. It bears the title, "The Louisiana Purchase and Our Title 
West of the Rocky Mountains, by Binger Hermann." 



166 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

United States embraced only the territory watered by the 
Mississippi and Missouri Rivers and their tributaries."* 

In the crude maps of the close of the seventeenth cen- 
tury, Louisiana extended from the Rio Grande to the Mo- 
bile, from the Gulf to the headwaters of the Mississippi, and 
from the Smoky Mountains to the unlcnown regions of the 
West.f This claim rested on the right of discovery and of 
exploration; but a third basis, that of settlement, was added. 
Before the first quarter of the succeeding century was end- 
ed, the ensign of France waved over Biloxi, Mobile, Ros- 
alie, Toulouse, Tombigbee, Natchitoches, Assumption, Ca- 
hokia and Chartres. 

The boundary of Louisiana on the Southeast, border- 
ing on the Spanish possession of Florida, became at once 
a source of trouble. It came about in this way: By the 
treaty of November 3, 1762, France gave up to England 
that part of Louisiana East of the Mississippi from its 
source to the river Iberville, thence through the Iberville to 
Lake Maurepas, and along the North shores of that lake 
and Pontchartrain to the Gulf. But England drew a line from 
the junction of the Yazoo and the Mississippi due East to 
the Appalachicola and down that river to the Gulf. This 
tract thus set off England called Florida West; the present 
State of Florida constituted Florida East. For^ twenty 
years this boundary was undisturbed, but in 1783, at the 
close of the Revolutionary War. England made the North 
boundary the thirty-first parallel and gave both Floridas 
to Spain. 

* Lecture before tlie Missouri Historical Society, "Extent of 
Territory Acquired by tlie Louisiana Purcliase." 

f Tlie earliest of tliese maps is known as Franquelin's Great 
Map of 1684, a reproduction of wliicii is before the writer. At 
about tlie Soutii boundary of Missouri, it bends tlie Mississippi 
sharply to the West and marlcs it off down through what are now 
Oklahoma and New Mexico, and empties it into the Gulf on the 
West side thereof. Otherwise the map is remarkably accurate. 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 167 

Spain thus received the two Floridas from England, 
and not from France. But West Florida had once formed 
part of Louisiana. By the treaty of San lldefonso, Spain 
gave to France what she received from France in 1762, 
and not what she received from England in 1783, — "the 
same extent that it had when France possessed it." But 
she did not receive Florida West from France in 1762, 
therefore by the terms of the cession she did not convey it 
to France in 1800. That seems plain and reasonable, and 
shows that the claim of the United States to the territory 
in dispute rested on very untenable grounds. But Jefferson 
and Madison contended that the purchase of 1803 included 
West Florida, because, forsooth, that tract had formed part 
of Louisiana prior to 1762, and Spain owned it in 1800! 
This was the situation on the Southeast, but we shall pur- 
sue the question no farther except to note that in 1810 the 
Spaniards yielded the strip between the Mississippi and the 
Pearl, "because it became too hot for them to hold," and 
that the controversy was finally ended in 1819 by the ces- 
sion of both Floridas to the United States. 

The boundary on the Southwest was another prolific 
source of trouble. The dispute was not finally adjudicated 
until the treaty of 1844. closing the War with Mexico. 

Louis XIV, in 1712, described Louisiana as extending 
to the Rio Grande (Del Norte), and a map published by 
Moll, the English geographer, thus locates it. In a later 
map published by Thomas Bowen, the Rio del Norte and 
the Rocky Mountains are made the Western boundary. 

Says Thomas Jefferson in his letter to Mellish, to which 
reference in made above: "The Western boundary of Louis- 
iana is, rightfully, the Rio Bravo (its main stream) from its 
mouth to its source, and thence along the highlands and 
mountains dividing the waters of the Mississippi from those 
of the Pacific." 

Justin Windsor, in his "Narrative and Critical History 



168 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

of America," says: "The French claim was bounded by 
the Gulf of Mexico Westward to the Rio Grande, thence 
Northward to the rather vague watershed known as the 
Rocky Mountains." 

We shall not burden our pages with a recital of the 
several efforts made between 1803 and 1819, to settle this 
vexatious question. Propositions and counter propositions, 
suggesting the reservation of certain strips along the border 
of the debatable ground as neutral territory, were made by 
this country and by Spain, but without attaining the desired 
end. Until 1819, the United States claimed the territory 
now embraced in Texas, but with the purchase of the Flor- 
idas it relinquished such claim. Subsequently it was re- 
vived by the settlers of this debatable territory themselves 
in their effort to establish an independent government, and 
by the annexation of the Lone Star Republic the United 
States again became a factor in the controversy, culmina- 
ting in the War with Mexico and the acquisition not only of 
the territory in dispute prior to 1819, but also of a vast 
province extending Westward to the shores of the Pacific 
and Northward to the confines of Oregon. 

Over the Northern boundary of Louisiana arose a 
fourth controversy. In 1818 a treaty was negotiated ^ith 
Great Britain whereby it was agreed that the line between 
the United States and the English possessions should be 
drawn from the Northwestern extremity of the Lake of the 
Woods, North or South, as the case might require, to the 
forty-ninth parallel of latitude, a line mentioned by Presi- 
dent Monroe in 1804 as the boundary, and thence along 
that parallel Westward to the highest portion of the Rocky 
Mountains. How originated the impression . that the com- 
mission appointed after the treaty of Utrecht (1713) settled 
upon this parallel, is a mystery. Subsequent researches 
disclose the fact that no mention was made of this or any 
other parallel. Indeed the commission agreed upon no 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 169 

boundary whatever. But in 1818 there was little disagree- 
ment over this portion of the boundary. England was as- 
tonished that America asked so little. From the moun- 
tains to the Pacific, however, the controversy was long and 
bitter. The American contention formed the slogan of the 
presidential campaign of 1844 — "Fifty-four Forty or Fight!" 
while England conceded nothing North of the Columbia 
River. Then, after it was finally agreed to continue the 
boundary along the forty-ninth parallel to the ocean, another 
controversy arose as to the "main channel" through the 
islands lying between the United States and Vancouver's 
Island. It was not until 1871 that the matter was finally 
settled, the Emperor of Germany, to whom the question 
was submitted "without appeal,' giving to the United States 
everything our nation claimed. 

From our investigation of the authorities at hand, we 
reach the following conclusions in regard to the boundaries 
of the Louisiana Purchase: 

(1) On the Southeast its bounds were the river Iber- 
ville and the North shores of Lakes Maurepas and Pont- 
chartrain to the Gulf. 

(2) To the Southwest the territory extended to the 
Rio Grande del Norte. 

(3) Its extent on the West was bounded by the Rocky 
Mountains. 

(4) On the North the United States received all for 
which they asked, but was singularly modest in not asking 
for all to which they were entitled and which England would 
doubtless have relinquished. 

Step by step have we traced the tedious course of di- 
plomacy by which the great region known as Louisiana was 
ceded to our nation. Of all distinguishing events, barring 
those triumphs won by the arbitrament of the sword, none 
adds more luster to the Union than this bloodless acquisi- 



170 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

tion of a matchless empire, unexcelled in fertility of soil, 
unequaled in salubrity of climate, unsurpassed in the wealth 
of its mineral deposits, unparalleled in the diversity of its 
scenic beauties. Out of its broad acres have been carved 
fourteen states and territories, the wealth of any one of 
which is many times the sum paid Napoleon for the entire 
domain. The value of the purchase cannot be computed. 
Its possibilities cannot be estimated. Justly may the Sage 
of Monticello have been charged of being a dreamer of 
dreams, but could he return to earth in this year of grace 
which rounds out the first century to elapse since the con- 
summation of the crowning act of his life, eclipsed would 
he find the wildest fancy of his Aladdin's lamp. When the 
ratification of the treaty was pending, the exigencies of the 
occasion brooked no delay. Already repenting of the hasty 
act whereby for a song he bartered away a princely domain, 
the First Consul was seeking a loophole by which the treaty 
could be abrogated. Spain, even then floundering in the 
bog of senility, registered protest after protest, not daring to 
go farther. Then it was that the President, keeping in abey- 
ance his convictions in regard to the powers guaranteed by 
the constitution, braved the wrath of the Federalist party 
(which, like so many other parties in defeat, had degenera- 
ted into a party of obstructionists — the most contemptible 
of political conditions), rose grandly to the emergency, even 
though he had to "stretch the constitution until it cracked.'* 
To his courageous hand alone is due the ratification of the 
treaty. In that noble galaxy of statesmen emblazoned high 
upon the escutcheon of national fame, will the names of 
Jefferson and Livingston and Monroe ever shine with a lus- 
ter bedimmed by none. Let posterity ever reverence their 
memory. Let writer and orator weary not in eulogizing 
their genius and in keeping their deeds before the people — 
"Lest we forget! Lest we forget!" 



THE EXPEDITION OF LEWIS AND CLARK. 1 7 1 



THE EXPEDITION OF LEWIS AND CLARK. 



T HAS BEEN SAID that for almost twenty years 
prior to the purchase of Louisiana, Thomas Jef- 
ferson had nourished a plan to send an expedition 
to explore the unknown regions to the West of the 
Mississippi River. This plan was put into operation immedi- 
ately after the ratification of the treaty, and even before the 
final transfer of the purchase to the United States the lead- 
ers had been selected, the plans perfected, and the neces- 
sary outfit procured. During the winter of 1803-4, the 
party designed for the expedition went into quarters at Ca- 
hokia, the Spanish commander at St. Louis, Delassus, re- 
fusing those in charge thereof permission to cross the Mis- 
sissippi until the raising of the stars and stripes over 
the territory. 

For this arduous task. President Jefferson selected 
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. The former was 
Jefferson's private secretary, while the latter was a brother 
of George Rogers Clark, some of whose exploits have been 
mentioned in these chapters,* Both men had seen some 
military service, both came from families in which patriot- 
ism and ambition for renown in military duties were para- 
mount, both were inured to the hardships of pioneer life. 
Subsequently, both served as governor of Missouri during 
her territorial period; and one of them (Lewis) came to an 

* See ante, page 79. 



172 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

untimely, mysterious and violent death, generally believed 
to have been self-inflicted. 

The work that devolved upon the leaders of this ex- 
ploring party was by no means a trivial matter. It was 
primarily to blaze a path four thousand miles long through 
an unknown wilderness. Of the difficulties and dangers to 
be encountered, nothing was definitely known. Traders had 
ventured a few hundred miles up the Missouri, but Lewis 
and Clark were to follow that river to its source, cross over 
the divide and work their way as best they could to the 
shores of the Pacific. The task was by no means a light 
one, but the two young men sprang to it with commend- 
able zeal. 

Not only was the expedition to explore the unknown 
regions of the Upper Missouri, but a multitude of other du- 
ties were enjoined. The leaders were to take observations 
of latitude and longitude of all points of particular interest, 
the native tribes encouritered were to be studied, the rela- 
tions of these tribes with one another, the conditions of 
trade upon ^he Pacific coast, the contour of the land, the 
character and course of the streams, the conditions of the 
soil, the water-supply, the climatic conditions, the fauna and 
flora, and the natural resources were all to be noted and 
recorded. 

"The headwaters of the Missouri were absolutely un- 
known; nobody had penetrated the great plains, the vast 
seas of grass through which the Platte, the Little Missouri, 
and the Yellowstone ran. What lay beyond them, and be- 
tween them and the Pacific, was not even guessed at. The 
Rocky Mountains were not known to exist, so far as the 
territory newly acquired by the United States was concerned, 
although under the name of "Stonies" their Northern ex- 
tremities in British America were already drawn on some 
maps."* 

* Roosevelt's "Winning of the West," VI, Chap. 5. 



THE EXPEDITION OF LEWIS AND CLARK. 173 

The party that set out from St. Louis consisted of 
forty-five persons, including soldiers detailed, watermen, in- 
terpreters, volunteers, hunters, and one negro servant. All 
the men were enlisted in the regular army, that they might 
be under governmental protection and military discipline, 
and at least five of them kept journals. It is not our inten- 
tion to follow them through the two years they spent in go- 
ing to the Pacific coast and in returning, but only to note 
what their journals record during their passage through the 
territory included in the present State of Missouri. 

The stores gathered for the expedition consisted of 
clothing, locks, flints, powder, ball, and fourteen bales and 
one box of articles intended for Indian presents. The party 
embarked in three boats, one being fifty-five feet long, pro- 
pelled by a large sail and twenty-two oars. The others 
were small boats of six and seven oars respectively. Two 
horses, for use in bringing in game, were led along the 
banks of the river. 

It was on the fourteenth of May, 1804, that the com- 
n.and broke camp and set out on its journey. On the 16th 
St. Charles was reached. Here there was a wait of several 
days. The village contained about one hundred houses of 
wood. In a previous chapter we have quoted a paragraph 
showing the conclusions of the voyagers in regard to the , 
French inhabitants of St. Charles.* Being joined by Cap- 
tain Lewis whom business had detained at St. Louis, the 
party re-embarked on the 21st. On the 22nd they passed 
the American settlement on Bonhomme or Goodman's 
River, and on the next day reached the settlement at the 
mouth of Osage Woman River. On the night of the 25th 
the party encamped at the settlement called La Charette, 
and on the following day reachsd the mouth of the Gascon- 
ade, where a halt was made until the 29th for the purpose 
of hunting and drying the provisions, part of which had got- 

* See ante, page 97. 



1 74 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

ten wet in passing sonne rapids. On the 31st, "a boat 
came down from the Grand Osage River, bringing a letter 
from a person sent to the Osage nation on the Arkansaw 
River, which mentioned that the letter announcing the ces- 
sion of Louisiana was committed to the flames — that the 
Indians would not believe that the Americans were owners 
of the territory." 

On June 1st the explorers reached the mouth of the 
Osage, one hundred and thirty-three miles from the Missis- 
sippi. It is mentioned that the Osage Indians who dwell 
upon this stream number between twelve and thirteen hun- 
dred warriors, and consist of three tribes — the Great Osa- 
ges, the Little Osages, and the Arkansas band. It is also 
recorded in the journals of the party that a nightingale sang 
for them on the night of the third. On the next day search 
was made for a reputed lead mine, but no appearance of 
that mineral was discovered. Canoes and rafts from the 
upper waters Vj^ the territory, laden with furs, were met al- 
most daily. On June 6th Saline River was reached, the 
water of which the explorers found quite brackish. 

On the 7th the party landed at the mouth of Big 
Manitou Creek to examine a rock covered with uncouth 
paintings and inscriptions, but a den of rattlesnakes was 
stumbled upon, and three of the reptiles were killed. Licks 
and springs of salt abounded in this locality. The mouth 
of the Mine River was passed on the 8th. The water of 
this stream also was strongly impregnated with salt. Ar- 
row Rock was passed on the following day, and on the 1 0th 
"two rivers called by the French the two Charatons, a cor- 
ruption of Thieraton, the first of which is thirty, and the 
second seventy yards wide, and enter the Missouri togeth- 
er." Five miles above, the party went into camp, where 
they remained on the 11th on account of a heavy head 
wind. On the 12th, but nine miles were made, and on the 
13th, after going some five miles (or a total of nineteen 



THE EXPEDITION OF LEWIS AND CLARK. 175 

miles from the mouths of the Charitons), two small streams 
called Round Bend Creeks, emptying on the North side, 
were reached. "Between these two creeks is the prairie 
in which once stood the ancient village of the Missouris. 
Of this village there remains no vestige, nor is there any- 
thing to recall this great and numerous nation, except a 
feeble remnant of about thirty families. They ^ere driven 
from their original seats by the invasions of the Sauks and 
other Indians from the Mississippi, who destroyed at this 
village two hundred of them in one contest, and sought ref- 
uge near the Little Osage, on the other side of the river. 
The encroachments of these same enemies forced, about 
thirty years ago, both these nations from the banks of the 
Osage, and the remainder found an asylum on the river 
Platte, among the Ottoes, who are themselves declining. 
Opposite the plain there was an island and a French fort, 
but there is now no appearance of either, the successive 
inundations having probably washed them away, as the wil- 
low island which is in the situation described by Du Pratz. 
is small and of recent formation. Five miles from this 
place is the mouth of Grand River, where we encamped." 

Before following further the steps of the Lewis and 
Clark exploring party, we shall notice briefly the matter of 
the location of Fort Orleans, about which writers on the his- 
tory of Louisiana do not agree, — giving first the statements 
of some of these writers. 

Parkman says (A Half-Century of Conflict, II, p. 15): 
"Bourgamont built a fort which he named Fort Orleans, 
and which stood on the Missouri not far above the mouth 
of Grand River." 

Carr's "Missouri," p. '25: "There is reason to believe 
that it may have stood on the South side of the river, fifteen 
or twenty miles above the mouth of Grand River." 

Peck's "Annals of the West." p. 671: "Accordingly, 



176 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

M. de Bourgamont was dispatched with a considerable force 
to take possession of an island in the Missouri River, some 
distance above, the mouth of the Osage, on which he built 
Fort Orleans." 

Le Page du Pratz, in his "Historie de la Louisiane," 
says that Fort Orleans was situated on an island in the 
Missouri River, opposite a village of the nation of the 
same name. 

Stoddard in his "Historical Sketches." says the fort 
was on an island in the Missouri, some distance above the 
mouth of the Osage. 

It was about 1722 that Bourgamont was ordered to 
establish a fort on the Missouri. He left New Orleans with 
three boat loads of stores, thirty soldiers and several Cana- 
dians. He built a fort on an island opposite the village of 
the Missouris and established peace among the various 
tribes, but traders who came up the river in 1725 found the 
fort destroyed. The Iowa Indians are supposed to have at- 
tacked the fort and massacred the garrison (G. C. Broad- 
head, of St. Louis). 

According to the measurements of the government 
engineers, the bend to which the Lewis and Clark journals 
refer is 255 miles above the mouth of the Missouri. The 
240-mile point is one mile above the mouths of the Chari- 
tons. Bossu, In his "Travels in Louisiana," speaks of the 
fort's being near the town of the Missouris. Dutisne, who 
visited this nation in 1719, states that their village was 
eighty leagues up the Missouri. Charlevoix, in October, 
1721, conversed with an Indian woman of this tribe who 
told him that her nation was the first to be met in going up 
the Missouri, and that its town was eighty leagues from the 
Mississippi. John Bradbury's Travels (1811) says: "We 
passed the site of a village on the Northeast side of the riv- 
er once belonging to the Missouri tribe. Four miles above 
it are the remains of Fort Orleans. It is 240 miles above 



THE EXPEDITION OF LEWIS AND CLARK. 177 

the mouth of the Missouri." H. M. Brackenrldge, 1811: 
"At 236 miles [above the mouth of the Missouri] there had 
been an ancient village of the Missouris, and near by for- 
merly stood Fort Orleans." 

The location of this village of the Missouris seems to 
be definitely ascertained, as all the authorities practically 
agree; while the weight of evidence places Fort Orleans on 
an island near by. The ancient fortification believed by 
some of the above writers to be the site of Fort Orleans, is 
up the river nineteen miles from Round Bend, though dis- 
tant only ten miles as the bee flies, owing to a great bend 
in the stream. 

We have dwelt at some length upon the question of 
the location of this fort. The boyhood home of the writer 
was between this bend mentioned by the Lewis and Clark 
journals and the ruins nineteen miles farther up the river — 
three miles from the first and seven from the latter. Now, 
Lewis and Clark to the contrary, there is an island at this 
precise location, covered fifty years ago with trses fully as 
large as those in the bottoms contiguous. Its appearance 
has been practically unchanged since the advent of the 
first settlers in that locality, which was not many years af- 
ter the explorations by Lewis and Clark. It is true that the 
channel cutting this island from the main land is dry except 
when the water in the river approaches a high stage, but 
the writer has often seen a strong and deep current racing 
through said channel. The island is large, — some four or 
live miles in length. While the writer has often been on 
this island, he was never at its Eastern or lower extremity. 
No old settler familiar with the surroundings can believe 
otherwise than that this island (we never heard a specific 
name for it — as "The Island" it was known in that portion 
nf Saline Co- n y) existed in 1804, an^i it is possible that at 
the time the .^) Dlorers passed up the Missouri the river was 
at an ordinary stage, and that neither end of this channel 



178 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

(the "old bed," it is designated locally) was noticed, as no 
water was flowing through it. As sandbars have formed 
across both the inlet and the outlet of the channel, it is 
probable that in 1722 the flow of water through it was con- 
stant, and not at intervals as it has been for the last centu- 
ry. Without doubt this channel at some remote period 
was the main bed of the river and the island was formed 
by a "cut-off." 

The foregoing is the writer's explanation of the state- 
ment by Lewis and Clark that no island existed in 1804 at 
this bend in the Missouri. 

We shall now resume the thread of our story, and 
notice briefly the record left by Lewis and Clark of their 
journey from the site of Fort Orleans to the Northwestern 
corner of Missouri. Eight miles above the mouth of Grand 
River, "Snake Bluffs" were r3ached, probably just above 
the present town of DeWitt. It is mentioned that the banks 
along this part of the stream were constantly falling in. 
That night the party encamped opposite a beautiful plain 
[Petitesas], which extended as far back as the Osage. 
In front of their camp were the remains of the village of 
the Little Osage [near the present town of Malta Bend], 
and three miles above was the situation of the old village 
of the Missouris after they had fled from the Sauks. The 
river here was about one mile wide. Tiger creek was 
passed on June 17th, and also panther island and a creek 
called Tabo. That night the party encamped near a lake 
two miles from the river and several in circumference. It 
is recorded that at this place mosquitoes were quite troub- 
lesome. The next morning Sauk prairie was reached, and 
several islands were passed. Clear Water creek next ap- 
peared, and a very remarkable bend on the North where a 
high rocky point projects into the Missouri. On the 23rd 
a high point on the South, where, in 1808. a fort and a fac- 



THE EXPEDITION OF LEWIS AND CLARK. 179 

tory were built, was passed. On the night of the 25th the 
party encamped opposite some high bluffs on the South 
bank that rose to the height of one hundred and sixty or 
more feet. On the next morning the explorers reached 
Blue Water creek, up which a few miles quarries of plaster 
of paris were afterwards opened. On that evening the 
mouth of the Kansas or Kaw was reached. Here the party 
remained several days. 

On June 30th, the mouth of Petite Platte was passed. 
A number of islands were found in this portion of the Mis- 
souri. A vast amount of drift wood was encountered on 
July 2nd; also a place where the current was unusually 
swift. A large island called by the Indians Wau-car-da- 
war-card-da ^vas also passed, just above which were the 
ruins of an old village of the Kansas, and near by the site 
of a small French fort, the chimneys of which were stand- 
ing. The national holiday was spent in the vicinity of St. 
Joseph and Lake Contrary. It is recorded that the river 
was getting quite low, while the weather was hot and sultry. 
The Nodaway River was reached on July 8th; also a large 
island of the same name. Wolf River was passed on the 
9th. Wild rye and wild potatoes were abundant in this vi- 
cinity. Tarkio creek was reached on the 1 1th; also a small 
river called the Nemahaw. 

Indian mounds were noticed in this vicinity. The 
plains or river bottoms were covered with grass five feet 
high. An abundance of plums and grapes were found. A 
cliff covered with Indian inscriptions j/as noticed. Early 
on the 13th Big Tarkio was passed. On the next day a 
squall was encountered, and the boats barely escaped being 
swamped. An abandoned trading house was seen on this 
day. Shortly afterwards a stream called Nishnabotana was 
reached. Wild timothy, lambsquarter, cuckleberries, plums, 
grapes and gooseberries grew on its banks. The Little 
Nemahaw was passed on July 15th. Wild cherries and 
hazelnuts were noticed during this day. 



180 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

Nothing else of interest within the present limits of 
Missouri was seen. It is on record that the general health 
of the party was good, though for a month past the men had 
been "greatly troubled with biles" (boils), which, however, 
invariably disappeared after a few days, with no other treat- 
ment than a poultice of elm or Indian meal. With the in- 
cidents of the journey after passing out of the present bounds 
of the state we are not here concerned, though every page 
of the journals is crowded with material of intense interest 
to the student of this period. After reaching the mountains 
our explorers met with many exciting adventures. Two 
years later the party returned to St. Louis with the loss of 
but a single man. Thus ended the most important explor- 
ing trip ever undertaken by our government, and the inform- 
ation the party gained was of inestimable value.* 

In August, 1805, Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike set out 
from St. Louis to explore the upper Mississippi. He, also. 
kept a very full journal of the incidents of each day; but 
there is recorded therein very little of interest concerning 
his journey along the present Northeastern margin of Mis- 
souri. He writes of the tributary streams, the settlers, the 
timber, the soil, and the condition of the Mississippi. Of a 
Frenchman who had settled about seven miles below the 
river Jauflione (later called the Jefferion, and now the Fa- 
bius), and who had married a woman of the Sac Nation, 
Pike says: "His cattle were in fine order, but his corn was 
in a bad state of cultivation. About a mile above his 
house, on the West shore, is a very handsome hill, which 
he informed me is level on top, with a gradual descent on 
either side, and a fountain of fine water." 

In 1806, Pike had charge of a second exploring ex- 

*In the foregoing synopsis of the travels of Lewis and Clark 
through Missouri, we have followed the journals of the explorers 
in the matter of names and the spelling thereof. 



THE EXPEDITIOH OF LEWIS AND CLARK. 181 

pedltion, leaving Belle Fontaine, near St. Louis, on July 
15th and going by boats up the Missouri, arriving at the 
mouth of the Osage on the 28th. Thence the party fol- 
lowed this stream as far as navigable. In charge of Pike 
were fifty-one Osage and Pawnee Indians who were being 
returned to their tribes. The journal describes in detail the 
meeting between these Indians and their friends. At the 
town of the Osages the explorers were treated to a sleight- 
of-hand performance, the account of which we quote, as it 
Illustrates a phase of Indian characteristics but little known: 

"They comn.enced the tragedy-comedy by putting a 
large butcher knife down their throats; the blood appearing 
to run during the operation very naturally; the scene was 
continued by putting sticks through the nose, swallowing 
bones and taking them out at the nostrils, etc. At length 
one fellow demanded of me what would I give him if he 
would run a stick through his tongue and let another person 
cut off the piece. 1 replied, 'a shirt.' He then apparently 
performed his promise, with great pain, forcing a stick 
through his tongue, and then giving a knife to a bystander, 
who appeared to cut off the piece, which he held to the 
light, for the satisfaction of the audience, and then joined it 
to his tongue and by a magical charm healed the wound 
immediately. On demanding of me what I thought of the 
performance, I replied that I would give him twenty shirts 
If he would let me cut a piece from his tongue. This dis- 
concerted him a great deal, and I was sorry I made the 
observation." 

The journey was continued Westward tc Pike's Peak 
(discovered by this expedition and named in honor of its 
leader), thence South into New Mexico. 

On the 26th of March, 1804 (only sixteen days after 
the transfer of Upper Louisiana to Captain Stoddard). Pres- 
ident Jefferson approved the act of Congress dividing the 



182 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

purchase into two parts, That portion North of the thirty- 
third parallel of latitude constituted the District of Louisiana 
and was attached to the Territory of Indiana, of which Wil- 
liam Henry Harrison was governor. Captain Stoddard, in 
October following, was relieved of his duties as civil com- 
mandant under the appointment of Governor Claiborne, at 
New Orleans, with all the powers of a Spanish lieutenant- 
governor. 

One section of the above-mentioned act of Congress 
was conducive of much dissatisfaction among the inhabit- 
ants. It was, in substance, that the United States v/ould 
recognize no grant of land in the purchase, made subsequent 
to the treaty of San Ildefonso. A remonstrance to Con- 
gress was signed on the 29th of September, over half of 
the petitioners being unquestionably of French extraction — 
demonstrating how quickly they exercised their new prerog- 
atives as citizens of a Republic. No action upon this re- 
monstrance was ever taken, but on the 3rd of March, 1805, 
Jefferson attached his signature to a bill erecting the dis- 
trict into a territory of the first or lowest grade, giving it 
the title of Territory of Louisiana. No mention was made 
of the Spanish grants, and it was not until April. 1814, that 
Congress enacted a measure, confirming all the grants 
made by the Spanish governors between October 1, 1800, 
and March 1 0, 1 804. The aversion of the government to 
confirming th«se grants seems to have arisen from the fact 
that many of them were fraudulently issued, but the great 
clamor thereat convinced the officials that it was better to 
lose the lands thus granted and allay the feeling of distrust. 

The first governor of the new territory was General 
James Wilkinson. Associated with him as chief justice 
was J. B. C. Lucas, and as secretary Dr. Joseph Browne, 
a brother-in-law of Aaron Burr. 

"In 1805 Wilkinson was made governor of Louisiana, 
and it was in that year that Burr came West. Burr had 



THE EXPEDITION OF LEWIS AND CLARK. 183 

just served a term as Vice President of the United States, 
having been defeated for the presidency by a very' narrow 
majority vote of the House of Representatives. Burr came 
West to revolutionize Mexico, make himself its ruler and 
attach all the territory West of the Alleghenies to his new 
dominion. Burr visited Wilkinson and it was charged that 
the governor had secretly acquiesced to Burr's plan. The 
scheme failed, and Burr was, in 1807, put on trial for con- 
spiracy and treason. Wilkinson was one of the principal 
witnesses against Burr. In 1808 Wilkinson was tried as 
accessory to Burr, but no case could be proven against him. 
Wilkinson, besides his relations with Burr, was disliked by 
the people on account of his speculaiions in land and was 
removed after officiating in the executive capacity for 
about two years.' 

Colonel Hammond served ad interim in the capacity of 
governor. Shortly afterward Lewis and Clark returned from 
their successful exploring trip, and their achievement cre- 
ated such admiration for these two young men that in the 
spring of 1807 Captain Lewis was appointed governor of 
the territory. 

Immigration into the purchase greatly increased. At 
every ferry was a constant stream of people seeking homes 
beyond the' Father of Waters. By 1810 the population 
was double the number given at the beginning of the new 
century. As this tide encroached upon the lands held by 
the Indians, there were negotiated with the red men several 
treaties by which all the lands held by them within the pres- 
ent limits of the state, excepting certain territory in the 
Northwest corner thereof, were ceded to the government. 
In some cases a part of the Indians effected protested 
against the transfer, but no serious results followed these 
treaties. In 1809 occurred the tragic death of Meriwether 
Lewis. Benjamin Howard was his successor, filling the 
office with honor to himself and advantage to the territory 



184 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

until his resignation in 1810 to accept an appointment as 
Brigadier General of Rangers. Captain William Clark, as"- 
sociate of Meriwether Lewis, succeeded Howard as gov- 
ernor. This brings us to the "Territory of Missouri." 



THE NEW MADRID EARTHQUAKE. 185 



m 



THE NEW MADRID EARTHQUAKE. 

INCE THE DAY Columbus first set foot on the 
North American continent, no other seismic dis- 
turbance has equaled in disastrous results the 
great New Madrid earthquake of 1811-12. Its 
greatest force was manifested at the settlement of Little 
Prairie, some twenty-five miles below the town from which 
the great upheaval takes its title. New Madrid was origi- 
nally one of the old Spanish forts, established about the 
time that Laclede blazed the trees for the site of St. Louis. 
In 1787, one Colonel George Morgan, an American officer, 
obtained a grant for the land about the Spanish fort and 
laid out a town on a scale that rivaled its old-world name- 
sake. But Morgan fell into disfavor with the Spanish offi- 
cials, the grant was revoked, and governors were sent to 
New Madrid, one of whom was our friend. Don Carlos De- 
hault Delassus. After the purchase of Louisiana, Ameri- 
cans flocked into the territory and other settlements sprang 
up rapidly. New Madrid, by 1811. had become a town of 
considerable importance, much frequented by boatmen in 
their voyages up and down the Mississippi, and many was 
the time its streets resounded with their Bacchanalian or- 
gies and carousals. The inhabitants were made up of Eng- 
lish, French, Spanish, Indians and negroes; while the visit- 
ors were boatmen, hunters, trappers, traders and gamblers. 



186 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

The first shock of the earthquake startled the inhabit- 
ants from their slumbers about two o'clock on the morning 
of December 16th — though some writers put the occur- 
rence during the night following the 16th — and was repeated 
with decreasing violence for several weeks. On January 
23rd — or February 4th some say — occurred another shock 
equal in violence to the first and characterized by the same 
frightful effects. 

It is related that a certain murkiness was noticed in 
the atmosphere on the day preceding the first great shock, 
and some even claimed that an odor of sulphur was per- 
ceptible, but that statement cannot be verified. On the 
night of the first shock, a flotilla of flatboats (by means of 
which craft the transportation of commodities between St. 
Louis and New Orleans and the intervening settlements was 
effected) was moored near New Madrid. The boatmen 
described the shock as most terrific and of a nature to ap- 
pall the hearts of the stoutest. 

The undulations of the earth and the turmoil of the 
waters of the river filled every living creature with inde- 
scribable terror. "The ducks, geese, swans and other aquat- 
ic fowls that were quietly resting in the eddies of the Mis- 
sissippi gave evidences of the wildest tumult in screams of 
alarm. A loud roaring sound, which has been likened to 
subterranean thunder, was accompanied by a hissing as 
of steam escaping from a pipe, and attended by a violent 
agitation of the adjacent shore. Sandbars and points of 
islands were swallowed in the bosom of the deep, while the 
tall cottonwoods, crashing against each other and toss- 
ing their giant arms to and fro. disappeared in the vora- 
cious abyss." 

One of the boatmen describes the incidents in the fol- 
lowing picturesque language, as recorded by Dr. Hildreth: 
"Directly loud roaring and hissing were heard, accompa- 
nied by the most violent agitation of the shores and boiling 



THE NEW MADRID EARTHQUAKE. 187 

up of the waters of the Mississippi in huge swells, and roll- 
ing the waters below back on the descending stream, and 
tossing the boats about so violently that the men with diffi- 
culty could keep their feet. The water of the river was 
changed to a reddish hue and became thick with mud 
thrown up from the bottom, while the surface was covered 
with foam which gathered in masses the size of a barrel 
and floated about on the trembling waters. The earth on 
the shores opened in wide fissures and closing again, threw 
the water and sand and mud, in huge jets, higher than the 
trees. The atmosphere was filled with thick vapor, to which 
the light imparted a purplish tinge. The river rose in a 
few minutes five or six feet, and then rushed forward with 
redoubled impetuosity, hurrying along the boats now let 
loose by the horror-struck boatmen. Many boats were 
overwhelmed by the falling earth and trees, and the crews 
perished with them. The sulphurated gases discharged du- 
ring the shocks tainted the air with their noxious effluvia, 
and so strongly impregnated the water of the river to the 
distance of one hundred and fifty miles below that it could 
not be used for any purpose for a number of days." 

Perhaps the most graphic and trustworthy description 
of these disturbances is that written on March 22. 1816. by 
Mrs. Eliza Bryan, of New Madrid, to the famous pioneer 
preacher, Lorenzo Dow, and published in his works in 1850, 
at page 344. We quote a portion of her letter: 

"On the 16th of December, 1811, about two o'clock 
A. M., we were visited by a violent shock of an earthquake, 
accompanied by a very awful noise resembling loud but 
distant thunder, but more hoarse and vibrating, which was 
followed in a few minutes with a complete saturation of the 
atmosphere with sulphurous vapor, causing total darkness. 
The screams of the affrighted inhabitants running to and 
fro. not knowing where to go or what to do, the cries of the 
fowls and beasts of every species, the cracking of the trees 



188 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

falling and the roaring of the Mississippi — the current of 
which was retrograde for a few minutes, owing, as is sup- 
posed, to an interruption in its bed — formed a scene truly 
horrible. From that time until about sunrise a number of 
lighter shocks occurred, at which time one still more vio- 
lent than the first took place, with the same accompani- 
ments as the first; and the terror which had been excited 
in everyone, and, indeed, in all animal nature, was now, if 
possible, doubled. The inhabitants fled in every direction 
to the country, supposing (if it can be admitted that their 
minds were exercised at all) that there was less danger at 
a distance from than near to the river. In one person, a 
female, the alarm was so great that she fainted and could 
not be recovered. There were several shocks each day, 
but lighter than those already mentioned, until January 23, 
1812, when one occurred as violent as the severest of the 
former ones, accompanied by the same phenomena of the 
former. From this time until the 4th of February, the 
earth was in continual agitation, visibly waving as a gentle 
sea. On that day there was another shock nearly as hard 
as the preceding ones. Next day four such, and on the 
7th, about four o'clock a. m., a concussion took place so 
much more violent than those which had preceded it that 
it was denominated the hard shock. The awful darkness 
of the atmosphere, which, as formerly, was saturated with 
sulphurous vapor, and the violence of the tempestuous thun- 
dering noise that accompanied it, together with all the other 
phenomena mentioned as attending the former ones, formed 
a scene the description of which would require the most 
sublimely fanciful imagination. At first the Mississippi 
seemed to recede from its banks, leaving for a moment 
many boats, which were here on their way to New Orleans, 
on the bare sand, in which time the poor sailors made their 
escape from them. It rose fifteen or twenty feet perpen- 
dicularly, and expanding, as it were, at the same moment, 



THE NEW MADRID EARTHQUAKE. 189 

the banks overfloA'ed with a retrograde current, rapid as a 
torrent, the boats which before had been left on the sand 
were now torn from their naoorings and suddenly driven up 
a little creek, at the mouth of which they laid, to the dis- 
tance, in some instances, of nearly a quarter or a mile. 
The river, falling immediately as rapidly as it had risen, 
receded within its banks again with such violence that it 
took with it whole groves of young cottonwood trees which 
edged its borders. They were broken off with such regu- 
larity in some instances that persons who had not witnessed 
the fact would be with difficulty persuaded that it had not 
been the work of man. 

"A great many fish were left upon the banks, being 
unable to keep pace with the waters. The river was liter- 
ally covered with the wrecks of boats. In all the hard 
shocks mentioned, the earth was horribly torn to pieces — 
the surface of hundreds of acres was from time to time 
covered over at various depths by sand which issued from 
the fissures that were made in great numbers all over this 
country, some of which closed up immediately after they 
had vomited forth their sand and water, \which. it must be 
remarked, was the matter generally thrown up. In some 
places, however, there was a substance somewhat resem- 
bling coal or impure stone coal, thrown up with the sand. 
.It is impossible to say what the depth of the fissures or ir- 
regular breaks was. We have reason to believe that some 
of them were very deep. The site of this town was vio- 
lently settled down at least fifteen feet, and not more than 
half a mile below the town there does not appear to be any 
alteration in the bank of the river, but back from the river 
a small distance the numerous ponds, or lakes as they were 
called, which covered a great part of the country, are nearly 
dried up. The beds of some of them are elevated above 
their former banks several feet, producing an alteration of 
ten, fifteen or twenty feet from their original state. 



190 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

"Lately it has been discovered that a lake was formed 
on the opposite side of the Mississippi, in the Indian coun- 
try, upward of one hundred miles in length and from one to 
six miles in width, of the depth of from fifteen to fifty feet. 
We were constrained, for fear of our houses falling, to live 
twelve or eighteen months after the first shocks in little 
camps made of boards, but we gradually became callous 
and returned to our homes again. Most of those who fled 
from the country in the time of the hard shocks have since 
returned home. We have felt, since their commencement 
in 1811, and still continue to feel, slight shocks occasion- 
ally. It is seldom indeed that we are more than a week 
without feeling one, and sometimes three or four in a day. 
Since they appear to be lighter now than they have ever 
been, we begin to hope that ere long they will entirely cease." 

Scientific investigators say that the New Madrid earth- 
quake was the longest disturbance of the kind on record as 
occurring remote from a volcano. Another strange coinci- 
dence is the fact that the last severe shock occurred on the 
same day that Caraccas, in South America, was destroyed 
—March 26, 1812. 

The catastrophe invaded the country on both banks of 
the Mississippi. The most remarkable result was that after 
the convulsions, hills had disappeared and lakes were found 
in their location; and many lakes became elevated ground 
that has since been cultivated. It is proper, however, to 
remark in passing that the scene of these seismic disturb- 
ances is a comparatively level region, principally in the 
Mississippi bottoms. 

In 1836, Senator Lewis F. Linn, of Missouri, in a let- 
ter to the Senate Committee on Commerce, says in part: 
"The earth rocked to and fro, vast chasms opened, from 
whence issued columns of water, sand and coal, accompa- 
nied by hissing sounds, caused, perhaps, by the escape of 
pent-up steam, while ever and anon flashes of electricity 



THE NEW MADRID EARTHQUAKE. 191 

gleamed through the troubled clouds of night, rendering 
the darkness doubly horrible. . . . The day that suc- 
ceeded this night of terror brought no solace in its dawn. 
Shock followed shock; a dense black cloud of vapor over- 
shadowed the land, through which no struggling ray of sun- 
light found its way to cheer the desponding heart of man- 
Hills had disappeared, and lakes were found in their stead. 
One of these lakes formed on this occasion is sixty or sev- 
enty miles in length, and from three to twenty in breadth. 
It is in some places very shallow; in others from fifty to 
one hundred feet deep, which is much more than the depth 
of the Mississippi River in that quarter, In sailing over its 
surface in a light canoe, the voyager is struck with aston- 
ishment at beholding the giant trees of the forest standing 
partially exposed amid a waste of waters, branchless and 
leafless. But the wonder is still further increased on cast- 
ing the eye on the dark blue profound, to observe cane- 
brakes covering the bottom, over which a mammoth species 
of testudo is seen dragging its slow length along, while 
countless myriads of fish are sporting through the aquat- 
ic thickets." 

John Bradbury, from whose book we have quoted in 
the preceding chapter, was near Little Prairie on the night 
of December 15th, and his account of the earthquake 
agrees substantially with those quoted above. At Cape 
Girardeau brick and stone houses were badly cracked, while 
at St. Louis fowls fell from trees as if dead, crockery fell 
from shelves, and many families rushed from their cabins 
which they feared would fall. The damaged and uptorn 
part of the country was some one hundred and fifty miles 
in circumference, with Little Prairie (now Caruthersville) 
as the center. The total amount of land submerged by the 
disturbance is estimated at 2,150 square miles. It is re- 
lated that in Pemiscot county there lived a farmer not far 
from the river of the same name. Just batk of his dwell- 



192 CLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

ing stood his smokehouse. On the morning after the first 
great shock, the farmer and his family were amazed at the 
sight of their smokehouse standing at some distance away 
and the Httle river peacefully flowing between it and their 
cabin, through a great fissure that had been formed. Au- 
dubon, the famous ornithologist, was traveling on horseback 
on the Kentucky side of the Mississippi, and has placed on 
record his experiences during ons of the shocks. His steed 
refused to move, and spread out its legs to brace itself. 
"AH the trees and shrubs began to move from their very 
roots, the ground rose and fell in successive furrows, like 
the rufted waters of a lake. Who can tell the sensations I 
experienced when 1 found myself rocking, as it wer-;, upon 
my horse, and moving to and fro like a child in its cradle?" 

Godfrey LeSieur was a resident of New Madrid at the 
time, and years afterwards (in 1871). in a letter to State 
Geologist Hagar, he writes: "Wide and long fissures were 
left, running North and South, parallel with each other for 
miles. I have seen some four or five miles in length, four 
and a half feet deep on an average, and about ten feet wide. 
After December 16th, slight shocks were felt until January 
7th, 1812, when the country was again visited by an earth- 
quake equal to the first in violence, and characterized by 
the same frightful results. Then it was that the cry of 
'sauve qui peut!' [save himself who can] arose among the 
people, and all but two families left the country, abandoning 
their property, consisting of cattle, hogs, horses, and por- 
tions of their household effects." 

Amid all these convulsions, but two casualties oc- 
curred. One was Mrs. Lafont, whose death from fright 
is mentioned by Mrs. Bryan. Mrs. Jarvis was fatally in- 
jured by the fall of her cabin. The dwellings were one- 
story structures, and the most of them were built of logs. 
The boatmen claimed that some of their comrades were 
drowned in the'wild tumult of waters. It is known that one 



THE NEW MADRID EARTHQUAKE. 193 

clung for several hours to the branches of a tree lodged in 
the river, while a mad current of muddy water whirled 
beneath him. 

Congress attempted to reimburse the unfortunate set- 
tlers in the loss of land they had sustained, and gave them 
permission to re-locate on any of the then unclaimed public 
lands of the State, no location, how3ver, to embrace more 
than one section. Land pirates and speculators took ad- 
vantage of the catastrophe and speculated on the "claims," 
manufacturing many by fraud and perjury. This gave rise 
to almost endless litigation. The greater part of the earth- 
quake sufferers took claims in the Boone's Lick country. 
North of the Missouri River. 

Near Union City and Hickman, partly in Kentucky 
and partly in Tennessee, is Reelfoot Lake, so called, ac- 
cording to William F. Switzler, from a reel-footed French- 
man who lived on its borders. Here it is supposed the 
roof of a mighty cavern was shaken down by the earthquake, 
"forming a lake broader and deeper than the Sea of Gall- 
lee." The lofty forest trees disappeared, and now a mod- 
ern lake of crystal clearness appears where before were 
marshy lowlands. A recent letter to Mr. Switzler from a 
resident of the vicinity states that this lake is thirty-one 
miles long, and twelve miles wide, the normal depth being 
ten feet, though in places the depth is fifty or sixty. 

It will be noticed that in the above extracts from eye- 
witnesses and others, there is, in regard to the severe shocks 
subsequent to that of December 16, 1811, some confusion 
of dates. This may be accounted for by the fact that these 
accounts were written some years after the great disturb- 
ance, and also by the fact that there seems to have been 
several severe shocks, with possibly a difference of opin- 
ion as to which was the most appalling. 



194 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 



DANIEL BOONE IN MISSOURI. 




ROM the great New Madrid earthquake to Daniel 
Boone may be a far cry, but it serves to illustrate 
the diversity of subjects involved in the history of 
our commonwealth. Furthermore, the rugged 
pioneer, hunter and Indian fighter deserves a passing notice 
in these pages. He it was who blazed a path for emigrants 
from North Carolina, through the fastnesses of the Cumber- 
land Mountains, a barrier previously deemed impassible, in- 
to the rich verdant plains and productive sylvan solitudes 
beyond, even as the Argonauts sailed between the Pillars 
of Hercules to reach the Golden Fleece. Boone was born 
in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, probably in 1735, though 
some writers place the date of his birth as early as 1732; 
had married and several children had come to his home 
ere he led that first party of homeseekers into that paradise 
afterward fittingly named "The Dark and Bloody Ground." 
Thither, too, came other indomitable spirits who carved for 
themselves niches in the American Temple of Fame, — Se- 
vier and Robertson and Shelby and Campbell, whose homes 
were farther toward the Magnolia-perfumed land, on the 
banks of the historic Watauga; heroes all, the luster of 
whose names will never be dimmed by the brilliancy of any 
future achievements by those who owe allegiance to the 
Stars and Stripes. To bring about this repellant appella- 
tion to this favored region, Boone, of necessity, contributed 



DANIEL BOONE IN MISSOURI. 195 

no mean part. On the bastions at Boonesboro he stood 
through flaming sun or kept the lonely vigils of midnight' 
anon exchanging shots with treacherous savages when never 
once did his bullets fail to reach the mark; thrice was he a 
prisoner in the hands of red foes; his favorite daughter was 
carried away into captivity, to be speedily rescued by Boone 
and d few others as fearless and as proficient in woodcraft 
and in Indian cunning as himself; one son, while leading a 
party of pioneers through the trackless forests over the 
mountain barrier, fell under the pitiless fire of ambushed 
savages, *^hile another was left lifeless on the bloody field 
at Blue Licks; through his ignorance of law and contempt 
for legal forms, the subject of this sketch lost vast tracts 
of land in Kentucky, and again, later, in Missouri: yet 
through all these vicissitudes he "preserved his honest sim- 
plicity, his unswerving integrity, and his unfaltering faith in 
himself, the future of his country, and his God." 

Through a dislike for, and a disregard of. legal forms. 
Boone had failed to perpetuate his title to the lands upon 
which he had located in Kentucky, and in his old age found 
himself deprived of his possessions, the right to which he 
never dreamed would be questioned. He removed to Point 
Pleasant, on the Kanawha, in Virginia, but after several 
years, the accounts given by a party of friends of the -won- 
drous fertility of the»soil and the abundance of game in the 
territory out of which Missouri was afterward carved, fired 
anew the heart of the aged pioneer as it had been forty 
years before. Accordingly, about 1797, he turned his back 
upon the scene of his early triumphs and sufferings and 
crossed the broad Mississippi into the Spanish domain, gov- 
erned at that time by Carlos Dehault Delassus. 

In the Femme Osage settlement, some forty-five miles 
West of St. Louis, Boone built his cabin. His fame had 
preceded him to that remote region. Having renounced 
his allegiance to the United States and taken the oath of 



196 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

fidelity to the red and yellow ensign that floated over his 
new home, he was, in 1800, made Commandant or Syndic 
of the new Femme Osage District, an office which included 
both civil and military duties. This office he filled with 
credit until the transferrence of the territory to the United 
States. After that time it appears that the aged back- 
woodsman made his home first with his son, Daniel M., 
then with another son, Nathan, and finally with a son-in-law, 
Flanders Callaway. 

Boone was now too old to join in the excitement of 
the chase, but game was plentiful in the woods about his 
cabin homes and many a day found him abroad with his 
trusty rifle, attended by a negro boy. Once or twice he 
discovered Indians in his vicinity, but as his mind retained 
all its activity, he easily eluded them. In the exercise of 
his functions as Syndic, he was governed more by honesty 
and common sense than by a knowledge of law. And he 
was as fearless as in those days when no danger was of 
sufficient magnitude to intimidate him. Once he had oc- 
casion to publicly reprimand a desperado. When the latter 
intimated that only the age of the Syndic saved him from 
punishment, Boone exclaimed, "You coward; let not my 
gray hairs stand in the way. Old as 1 am, 1 am young 
enough to whip the like of you." And the ruffian slunk 
away. It is also told that when a miserly fellow seized a 
cow belonging to a poor widow to satisfy a claim, Boone 
rendered his decision thus: "The widow owes you, Tim Tur- 
ley; yet you are a scoundrel to take her only cow. The 
law says you shall have it. Take it and go, but never look 
an honest man in the face again." Turning to the widow 
he said, "Lst him have it; I'll give you a better one," and 
he did that very day. 

When Boone settled on the Femme Osage, the Span- 
ish governor made him a grant of a thousand arpents of 
land (about 850 acres), and later, for bringing a hundred 



DANIEL BCONE IN MISSOURI. 197 

families from Kentucky and Virginia into the new territory, 
he was the recipient of an additional grant of ten thousand 
arpents. To perfect the grants, it was necessary that they 
be confirmed by the representative of the crown at New 
Orleans. Boone was assured by the officials at St. Louis 
that this matter should receive their careful attention, but 
after the purchase by Jefferson it was discovered that the 
renowned pioneer, like hundreds of other settlers, had not 
the shadow of a title to his claiois. Subsequently, by a 
special act of congress, adopted on February 10th, 1814, 
his title to the first grant was confirmed. 

During the time that Boone made his home with his 
son-in-law, Flanders Callaway, Audubon, the great natural- 
ist, spent a night with him. Audubon left on record this 
statement: "Daniel Boone, or as he was usually called in 
the Western country. Colonel Boone, happened to spend a 
night with me under the same roof, more than twenty years 
ago. We had returned from a shooting excursion, in the 
course of which his extraordinary skill in the use of the rifle 
had been fully displayed. On retiring to the room appro- 
priated to that remarkable individual and myself, I felt anx- 
ious to know more of his exploits and adventures than I 
did, and according took the liberty of proposing numerous 
questions to him. The stature and general appearance of 
this wanderer of the Western forests approaches the gigan- 
tic. His chest was broad and prominent; his muscular 
powers displayed themselves in every limb; his countenance 
gave indication of his great courage, enterprise and perse- 
verance, and when he spoke, the very motion of his lips 
brought th-s impression that whatever he uttered could not 
be otherwise than strictly true. I undressed, whilst he merely 
took off his hunting shirt, and arranged a few folds of blank- 
ets on the floor, choosing rather to be there, as he observed, 
than on the softest bed." 

The closing years of Boone's life were devoted to his 



198 CLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

children and grandchildren, of whom he was extremely 
fond. Frequent visits were made to the homes of his sons 
Daniel and Nathan, and his coming was always made the 
occasion of an ovation to "Grandfather Boone," as he was 
affectionately termed by those relatives and neighbors who 
held him in such high esteem. His days, in this period of 
his declining years, were occupied in making powderhorns 
and other articles for his grandchildren and neighbors, and 
in repairing rifles. 

On the 18th of March, 1813, the aged pioneer was 
deprived by death of his wife and companion of many years 
— Rebecca Bryan — at the age of seventy-six. Her remains 
were interred on the summit of a hill commanding a splen- 
did view of the Missouri River, and situated a mile from 
the town of Marthasville. in Warren County. From this 
time, it is .said, Boone took little interest in his surround- 
ings and the affairs of his companions. 

In the latter part of the summer of 1820, Boone was 
seized with a severe attack of fever, but he rallied there- 
from, and was able to make his accustomed visit to his son 
Nathan, on the Femme Osage. After a few days a dish of 
baked sweet potatoes (of which he was passionately fond) 
was prepared for him. He ate heartily of them, and shortly 
afterward had a serious attack of stomach ^rouble, from 
which he never recovered. After a few days' illness, he 
expired on September 26th, 1820, in the eighty-sixth year 
of his age. The house in which he died was a sub- 
stantial stone structure (said to have been the first erected 
of this material in the State), two stories in height, and is 
still standing. 

The remains of the famous frontiersman were placed 
in a cherry coffin which he himrelf had made some years 
anterior, and conveyed to the home of Flanders Callaway, 
to be laid to rest beside those of his beloved wife on the 
hill near by. The funeral sermon was delivered by Rev. 



DANIEL BOONE IN MISSOURI. 199 

James Craig, the husband of a niece of the deceased, and 
the house being too snaall to accommodate the concourse 
of people who had assembled to pay a last tribute to their 
distinguished neighbor, the corse was taken to a large barn 
close at hand and the services there held. At the time of 
Boone's death, the constitutional convention of Missouri was 
in cession in St. Louis, and on receipt of the news, adjourn- 
ment was had for one day. 

In 1845, a new cemetery was dedicated by the citizens 
of Frankfort, Kentucky, and it was proposed to consecrate 
the ground by interring therein the ashes of Daniel Boone 
and his wife. The Kentucky legislature appointed a com- 
mittee to superintend the removal of the remains. At first 
Harvey Griswold, on whose premises were the graves of 
the pioneers, objected to their removal from the hill select- 
ed by Boone himself as their final resting place, but after 
much importunity he yielded. On July 17th, 1845, the 
bodies were disinterred, and on the 20th of the following 
month were reinterred in the new cemetery, with imposing 
ceremonies and in the presence of a vast assemblage of 
people. Addresses were delivered by Hon. John J. Critten- 
den, of Kentucky, and Joseph B. Wells, of Missouri. An 
imposing monument now marks the graves of the famous 
pioneer and his wife. 



200 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 




INDIAN DEPREDATIONS AND ATTACKS. 

HILE no engagement of historical importance 
took place between the pioneer settlers of Mis- 
souri and the aboriginees of their vicinity, there 
were many personal encounters and Indian at- 
tacks in which it was demonstrated that the whites were of 
the same clay as their ancestors in Kentucky and Virginia. 
Even the sluggish French, in desperate emergencies, 
aroused from their characteristic lethargy and performed 
prodigies of personal valor as became the descendants of 
those valliant knights who followed to victory the white 
plume of Navarre. In carving the way for the peaceable 
and prosperous career of the multitude that came after, the 
gentler sex. too, came in for a generous meed of praise. 
Many of these stories of early trials and triumphs are lost,, 
or exist only as traditions; but a few are preserved in print 
for the edification of the present and future generations. 
To present the most noted and picturesque of these is now 
our purpose. 

At the time of which we write, Cedar creek, which 
now separates the counties of Callaway and Boone, was 
considered the Western boundary of St. Charles District. 
The country above this stream constituted the "Boone's 
Lick" settlements, from the fact that, in 1807, the sons of 
Daniel Boone had manufactured salt in the vicinity. As 
early as 1808 Cote Sans Desseln was a French hamlet in this 



INDIAN DEPREDATIONS AND ATTACKS. 201 

locality. Two years later many enterprising persons had 
pushed Into the wilderness and begun settlements within the 
present limits of Howard County. The large salt springs 
or licks in this neighborhood offered unparalleled induce- 
ments to settlers. The Boone's Lick settlement, in 1812, 
contained about one hundred and fifty families. They were 
beyond the limits of organized government, but several 
ministers of the gospel were among them, and they seem 
to have been a quiet and orderly people. 

This settlement was at all times subject more or less 
to Indian depredations. On the Moniteau, North of the 
Missouri, liv^d the Sauks, who, while professing friendship, 
stole horses and committed other depredations. On the 
Petitesas plains, in what is now Saline County, was a vil- 
lage of the Miamis, who were accused of thieving and 
sometimes of murder. But the source of the greatest dep- 
redations was the Pottawatomies, Foxes, lowas and Kicka- 
poos. It is said that the first of these tribes stole about 
three hundred horses from the white settlers. For two 
years the gallant pioneers, unaided, defended their families 
from the red men. Every man, and every boy large enough 
to load a rifle, was a soldier; and not infrequently the wo- 
men aided in the defense of their hearthstones. From the 
unwritten lives of the heroes of these settlements, there 
have come down to us the names of Colonel Benjamin 
Cooper and Sarshall Cooper (his son), William Head, and 
Stephen Cole. For their defense the people erected five 
forts, — Hemstead, near the present site of New Franklin; 
Cooper's, near the old Boone's Lick; Kincaid's, above the 
site of old Franklin; Head's, on the Moniteau: and Cole's, 
South of the Missouri. There were also several smaller 
stockades in the territory. Near these forts were large 
cornfields, and often sentinels stood guard while the tillers 
cultivated the fields. If danger threatened, the winding of 
a horn warned all abroad to hasten to the fort. 



202 ■ GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

The lives of a number of settlers were sacrificed in 
these sanguinary conflicts with the Indians, while many 
persons were shot down or tomahawked by the unseen foe, 
skulking in ambush. The most tragic death was that of 
Sarshall Cooper, killed at his own fireside at Cooper's Fort. 
It was on a dark and stormy night, the winds howled dis- 
mally as they swept through the adjacent forests, and in no 
breast rested a suspicion that danger was near. But a lone 
warrior, skulking abroad in quest of scalps, crept silently to 
the wall of Captain Cooper's cabin, which formed one side 
of the fort. Stealthily he picked at a space between the 
logs until he made an opening large enough to admit the 
muzzle of his rifle, which the savage discharged with deadly 
effect. Mr. Cooper was sitting by the fire, holding in his 
arms his youngest child, several other children were playing 
about the room, while his wife was engaged in domestic 
duties. At the crash of the rifle, Cooper fell lifeless to the 
floor. He was a man of rare virtues, fearless in the In- 
dian skirmish, tireless on the trail, and equaled by few in 
his knowledge of Indian cunning. 

At the village of Cote Sans Dessein (Hill Without De- 
sign) the French settlers had built a fort or stockade. The 
leading man of the settlemient was Batiste Louis Roy. 
Once the fort was assailed by a large party of Indians, but 
Roy and two other men made a gallant defense. Madame 
Roy and another woman in the fort moulded bullets, loaded 
rifles, and prepared refreshments for the men, one of whom, 
so it is written, showed the white feather. Failing to carry 
the stockade by assault, the red men attempted to set it on 
fire Several times was the roof ablaze, but Madame Roy 
and her companion, shouting to the men to stick to their 
posts, climbed a ladder to a trap-door in ^he roof ar^d extin- 
guished the flames again and again, exhausting the supply 
of water, the milk in the kitchen, and. according to some 
chroniclers, when the gallant defenders were about to give 



INDIAN DEPREDATIONS AND ATTACKS. 203 

up in despair, utilized the contents of another household 
vessel. Be that as it may. the Indians, after repeated ef- 
forts, failed to fire the stockade, and were held in check 
until the arrival of reinforcements, attracted by the sound 
of the firing. Afterwards the young men of St. Louis, in 
recognition of his gallant defense of Cote Sans Dessein, 
presented to Roy a splendid silver-mounted rifle, but the 
fiery Frenchman, taking umbrage at a thoughtless jest in 
which his wife was mentioned, spurned the gift with 
indignation and contempt. 

In July, 1810, a party of Indians, probably Pottawato- 
mies, came into the settlement at the upper part of Loutre 
Island, nearly opposite the mouth of the Gasconade River, 
and stole a number of horses. A party consisting of Ste- 
phen Cooper, William T. Cole, Messrs. Brown, Gooch, Pat- 
ton and one other (name unknown) followed the savages to 
the vicinity of Boone's Lick, on a branch of Salt River. 
Here the Indians were discovered, but they threw away 
their packs and plunder and scattered in the woods. Night 
coming on, the pursuers struck camp and lay down to sleep. 
Stephen Cole remonstrated against such carelessness and 
proposed a guard, but the others hooted at his suggestion 
as an evidence of cowardice. In the silence of the night 
there burst over the slumbering camp an Indian yell, fol- 
lowed by the crash of deadly rifles. But the frontiersmen 
were not panic-stricken. Those unhurt sprang to their 
weapons. Stephen Cole, though himself severely wounded, 
killed four Indians and wounded a fifth, rlis brother Wil- 
liam, and two others of the pursuers were killed. Those 
who escaped reached the settlements next morning, bear- 
ing the dreadful tidings. A party returned to the scene of 
the surprise and buried the dead, but no Indians were seen. 

In 1812, the Indians were incited by British agents to 
hDstilities against the settlers. An express came down the 
Mississippi from Fort Madison, traveling on the ice in a 



204 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

sleigh, reaching St. Louis on February 13th. Frequently 
the men were fired on by war parties, and just above Salt 
River they were chased some distance by a number of red 
warriors. A family named O'Neal, in the St. Charles Dis- 
trict, were killed about the same time. 

The following item appeared in the Louisiana Gazette 
(now the St. Louis Republic) on March 21st, 1812: "Since 
Christmas last, the following murders have been committed 
by the Indians in this country: Two persons near the mines 
on the Mississippi, nine in the District of St. Charles, with- 
in the settlements, one man at Fort Madison. There were 
several men who left Fort Madison for this part of the ter- 
ritory, about the 17th of February, who are supposed to 
have fallen into the hands of the enemy, as they have not 
been heard of. Travelers and spies who have been among 
them all concur in the same story, that the Indians have no 
desire to make peace with us; that red wampum is passing 
through the upper villages, from the Sioux of St. Peters to 
the head of the Wabash; that at every council fire the 
Americans are devoted and proscribed; and, in short, that 
a general combination is ripening fast." 

The files of the Missouri Gazette for this period con- 
tain many items of Indian depredations and atrocities. It 
is stated that between February 8th and March 20th, 1813, 
"Sixteen men. women and children fell victims to savage 
ferocity in Missouri and Illinois.'' It was in these troublous 
times that Benjamin Howard, Governor of the territory, re- 
signed to take command of the rangers recruited in Mis- 
souri and Illinois, with the rank of Brigadier General. 

In 1813, Rev. David McLain and a Mr. Young started 
on horseback from the Boone's Lick settlement to Ken- 
tucky. While in Illinois, they were fired on by a party of 
Indians. Young was killed and scalped, and the minister's 
horse shot. The rider, unhurt, escaped to the woods, but 
was pursued by an athletic savage, who fired at the fleeing 



INDIAN DEPREDATIONS AND ATTACKS. 205 

man eight times, only one shot taking effect — in his arm. 
McLain would make signs of surrender, and as the Indian 
approached within a few feet, would assume an attitude of 
defiance, closely watching the motions of the wily red man. 
and at the instant the latter pressed the trigger, would spring 
aside, and then bend all his energies to escape. These tac- 
tics were continued until the Kaskaskia River was reached, 
into which the fugitive plunged. Thereupon the Indian 
abandoned Ihe chase. 

During the summer of 1813, a regiment of Missouri 
rangers, under command of General Howard, participated 
in a raid against the Indian settlements in Illinois. Several 
villages were destroyed, but, on the whole, the expedition 
proved barren of direct results. 

On the 15th of August, a scouting party of sixteen 
rangers, in charge of Captain Nathan Boone, was attacked 
late at night, while encamped between the Missouri and the 
Mississippi Rivers. Captain Boone formed his men back 
of the camp fires, and the Indians, as was expected, rushed 
on the camping grounds. The night had been rainy, hence 
the guns of the rangers were wet and but little execution 
was done. The party retreated in safety, with no casualties. 

Among those killed in our state during the territorial 
period, a writer records the names of Sarshall Cooper, Jon- 
athan Todd, William Campbell, Thomas Smith, Samuel 
McMahan, William Gregg, John Smith. James Busby and 
Joseph W. Still. 

In 1 8 1 4, a detachment of rangers commanded by Cap- 
tain James Callaway, overtook a marauding party of Sauks 
and Foxes that had stolen a number of horses from the 
settlers. The savages fled on the approach of the rangers, 
and the latter retook the horses and proceeded toward the 
settlements. On reaching the crossing of Prairie Fork, in 
the neighborhood of Loutre's Island, the rangers were fired 
upon from an an.buscade. Three of the men, in advance 



206 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

with the horses, fell beneath the fire, and Captain Callaway, 
who, with the others of the company, had spurred forward 
at the first indication of an attack, had his horse killed and 
he himself was slightly wounded while crossing the creek. 
He sprang to the bank, threw his gun into the water, ran 
down the stream a short distance and plunged into the cur- 
rent again, the savages firing at him all the while. A ball 
struck the back of his head, passing quite through. The 
red men failed to secure his scalp. Several days later his 
body was found at some distance below the crossing. The 
remainder of the command escaped. 

In the pantheon of Missouri heroes, the names of none 
shine with a luster more brilliant than those of Sarshall 
Cooper and James Callaway, the memory of each of whom 
is perpetuated in the name of a county in the vicinity of 
the scenes of their brave deeds. 

Rumors at ont; time of the approach of Indians very 
much alarmed the settlers at Big Spring, in St. Louis 
County. A detachment of soldiers was sent from St. Louis 
to guard the blockhouse at the Spring. The fears of the 
people were allayed somewhat by the presence of the armed 
force, but there was among the settlers a Miss Fugate, of 
a type very different from the ordinary frontier girl. Ap- 
proaching a sentinel, she timidly enquired if he thought 
there was any danger. In a spirit of mischief, the soldier 
replied, "Should n't be surprised, madam, if we were n't all 
dead before morning." Imagine his astonishment when 
Miss Fugate fell to the ground in a death-like swoon. A 
few days latar the expected attack came. While the most 
of the women present moulded bullets, loaded guns and en- 
couraged the men, Miss Fugate went from one swoon into 
another. The Indians, failing in their design of surprising 
the fort, presently withdrew, having inflicted no damage. 

A party of savages, in the spring of 1818, cautiously 
crept up to the house of a settler named Ramsey, in the 



INDIAN DEPREDATIONS AND ATTACKS. 207 

Boone's Lick country. Mrs. Ramsey was engaged in milk- 
ing her cows, when suddenly she was fired on by the unseen 
foe. She ran toward the house, but again was fired upon, 
one shot taking effect. She succeeded, however, in reach- 
ing the cabin. Three of the children, playing in the yard, 
were murdered and scalped before the eyes of their parents 
who were unable to protect them. Mr. Ramsey was wound- 
ed, but kept the savages at bay until two of his sons gave 
the alarm and brought assistance. The Indians fled, but 
were overtaken and four of them killed. Mrs. Ramsey 
died from the wound received. 

Of the early pioneer tales, none is more thrilling than 
that of Helen Patterson, a pious maiden of eighteen, whose 
parents had settled in the St. Charles District, a few miles 
from the cabin home of Daniel Boone. One day it was 
necessary for all the family excepting Helen to be absent 
from home. While busy with her spinning wheel, the vis- 
age of a painted savage suddenly appeared at the door. Be- 
hind him were eight other red men. Helen did not cry 
out or make any signs of fear. Taking from the cabin such 
things as they wanted or fancied, the savages shortly set 
out toward the Northwest, taking Helen with them. The 
girl had carried a ball of yarn with her. From this she. at 
intervals, broke a short piece and let it fall, in order that 
the Indians could readily be followed. After awhile her 
scheme was detected, and one of the savages, in his mad 
fury, raised his tomahawk to dash out the maiden's brains, 
but his companions interceded and her life was spared. 
The yarn was taken from her, and she was given no oppor- 
tunity to resort to any other device to mark their trail. 

It was in the early morning that Helen was captured, 
and as her father was to return by noon, the girl knew that 
white men would soon be pressing in pursuit. The Indians 
were afoot, and as the rangers always utilized horses in the 
pursuit, the savages, too, realized that the enemy would 



208 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

soon be on their track. Near nightfall a stream was 
reached, and after consultation, the red men decided to 
ambush the rescuers at this point. Helen was taken some 
distance from the ford, her hands bound with a buckskin 
thong and then, extended above her head, tied to a swing- 
ing branch of a tree. Then the Indians returned to the 
ford. All day long Helen had fervently prayed for deliver- 
ance, and she devoutly believed that it would come in some 
way. The afternoon had been cloudy, and about the time 
that Helen was bound to the branch, a steady rainfall be- 
gan. Soon the thong loosened, and in a few more minutes 
the prisoner was free. With fleeing steps she made her 
way around the ambuscade and to the road along which she 
believed her rescuers would come. Not long had she to 
wait. Presently she heard the sound of horses' hoofs, and 
in a few more minutes the maiden was in the arms of her 
distracted father. Accompanying him were two of her 
brothers, and Nathan and Daniel M. Boone, also a neighbor 
named Shultz. On being informed of the ambuscade, the 
party crossed the stream at another point and tried to sur- 
prise the red men, hut they had taken alarm and fled. 

About the time of the declaration of war between the 
United States and England, in 1812, there were about five 
hundred Miami Indians encamped near the present site of 
Miami, in Saline County. They had come out from Ohio 
and Indiana a year or two previously, and were supposed to 
be friendly. But when the war broke out, many of the 
tribe embraped the opportunity to steal from and rob their 
white neighbors at the forts whenever they could. At last, 
in July, 1813. a band of them slipped down into the How- 
ard settlements, and four miles Northwest of Booneville, 
killed a settler named Campbell Bowlin (or Bolen), of Fort 
Kincaid. Bowlin and Adam McCord had gone from the 
fort to Bowlin's cabin and field to care for some flax that 
had long been neglected. The treacherous Miamis. in am- 



INDIAN DEPREDATIONS AND ATTACKS. 209 

bush, fired on them in the field and Bowlin was killed. 
Their nnoccasin tracks in the field were followed to near 
the Miami village, thirty miles away. 

Colonel Ben Cooper wrote a letter to Governor Clark, 
at St. Louis, informing him of the circumstance, and of 
the general conduct of the Miamis, asking that proper ac- 
tion be taken against them. On receipt of Colonel Coop- 
er's letter. Governor Clark sent a force of rangers to the 
Miami village. The Indians surrendered and were escorted 
out of the country, after the stolen property had been re- 
stored to the settlers. 



210 CLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 



SOCIAL AND BUSINESS LIFE. 




EV. TIMOTHY FLINT, a New England clergy- 
man, lived in the territory from 1816 to 1820. 
and afterwards published a book of "Recollec- 
tions," in which he writes entertainingly of the 
inhabitants and their customs. He protests against the in- 
justice of ascribing to a whole people the crimes of a few 
ungovernable or vicious persons. Says he: "It is true there 
are worthless people here, and the more so, it must be con- 
fessed, are from New England. It is true there are gam- 
blers and gougers and outlaws; but there are fewer of them 
than, from the nature of things and the character of the age 
and the world, we ought to expect. I have traveled in 
these regions thousands of miles under all circumstances 
of exposure and danger, and this, too, in many instances 
where I was not known as a minister, or where such knowl- 
edge would have no influence in protecting me. 1 have 
never carried the slightest weapon of defense. I scarcely 
remember to have experienced anything that resembled in- 
sult, or to have felt myself in danger from the people. I 
have often seen men that had lost an eye. Instances of 
murder, numerous and horrible in their circumstances, have 
occurred in my vicinity. But they were such lawless ren- 
contres as terminate in murder everywhere, and in which 
the drunkenness, brutality and violence were mutual. They 
were catastrophes, in which quiet and sober men would be 
in no danger of being involved." 



SOCIAL AND BUSINESS LIFE. 21 1 

Of the pioneer in Missouri Territory, Flint says: "He 
is generally an amiable and virtuous man. He has vices 
and barbarisms peculiar to his situation. His manners are 
rough. He wears, it may be, a long beard. He has a 
great quantity of bear or deer skins wrought into his house- 
hold establishment, his furniture and dress. He carries a 
knife or a dirk in his bosom, and when in the woods has a 
rifle at his back and a pack of dogs at his heels. An At- 
lantic stranger, transferred directly from one of our cities 
to his door, would recoil from a rencounter with him. But 
remember, that his rifle and his dogs are among his chief 
means of support and profit. Remember, that ail his first 
days here were passed in dread of the savages. Remem- 
ber, that he still encounters them, still meets bears and 
panthers. Enter his door and tell him you are benighted, 
and wish the shelter of his cabin for the night. The wel- 
come is indeed seeming ungracious: 'I reckon you may 
stay,' or '1 suppose we must let you stay.' But this appar- 
ent ungraciousness is the harbinger of every kindness that 
he can bestow, and every comfort that his cabin can af- 
ford. Good coffee, corn bread and butter, venison, pork, 
wild and tame fowls, are set before you. His wife, timid, 
silent, reserved, but constantly attentive to your comfort, 
does not sit at the table with you. but like the wives of the 
patriarchs stands and attends to you. You are shown the 
best bed which the house can offer. When the kind hos- 
pitality has been afforded you as long as you choose to stay, 
and when you depart and speak about your bill, you are 
most commonly told with some slight mark of resentment 
that they do not keep tavern. Even the flaxen-haired chil- 
dren will turn away from your money. If we were to try 
them by the standard of New England customs and opin- 
ions, there would be many that would strike us offensively. 
They care little about ministers, and think less about pay- 
ing them. They are averse to all, even the most necessa- 



212 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

ry, restraints. They are destitute of the forms and observ- 
ances of society and religion; but they are sincere and kind 
without professions, and have a coarse but substantial 
morality." 

With the return of peace with England, in 1815, there 
came a great tide of immigrants from Kentucky, Virginia, 
Tennessee and the Carolinas. Says the Missouri Gazette 
of October 26th, 1816, "A stranger witnessing the scene 
would imagine that those States had made an agreement 
to introduce the territory as soon as possible into the bosom 
of the American family." As many as one hundred fami- 
lies, bound for Boone's Lick or some other point on the 
frontier, are said to have passed through St. Charles in one 
day. Many of these families brought with them horses, 
cattle, hogs, and sheep, and from three to a score of slaves. 
Flint pictures a long train of these emigrants as they move 
slowly along the beaten track. The wagons drawn by four 
or six horses, are loaded with the "plunder" of the house- 
hold; the negroes, who, Flint remarks, seem fond of their 
masters, are much delighted and interested in the migra- 
tion; the females and the children, strolling leisurely along, 
"often stretch for three quarters of a mile along the road 
and present a scene which is at once pleasing and patri- 
archal." As nightfall approaches, a camping place near 
some spring or stream where there is also wood to be had, 
is selected. "The pack of dogs sets up a cheerful barking. 
The cattle lie down and ruminate. The huge wagons are 
covered so that the roof completely excludes the rain. The 
cooking utensils are brought out. The blacks prepare a 
supper which the toils of the day render delicious." The 
land to which they are going is "inexhaustibly fertile and 
where there is nothing but buffalos and deer to limit the 
range even to the Western sea." 

The French had settled in villages, being a convivial 
folk, and the families cultivated a field in common, but the 



SOCIAL AND BUSINESS LIFE. 213 

American immigrants each sought large tracts of land, 
hence they passed by the villages and pushed into the wil- 
derness. Each wished "never to live near enough a neigh- 
bor to hear the bark of his dog," but the possibility of dan- 
ger from the red men obliged them to build their cabins 
within easy reach of a fort or stockade. Of these forts, in 
addition to those heretofore mentioned, there were Boone's. 
in St. Charles County; Howell's, on Howell's Prairie; Pond, 
near the present town of Wentzville; White's, on Dog Prai- 
rie; Kountz's, eight miles West of St. Charles; Zumwalt's. 
near O'Fallon; Castillo's, near Howell's Prairie; Kennedy's, 
near present town of Wright City; Callaway's, near Mar- 
thasville; Wood's, near Troy; Clark's, four miles North of 
Troy; Clemison, on Loutre Island (Switzler's History). 

About 1811. two unique characters settled in St. 
Charles County — General Amos Burdine and John Bald- 
ridge. One of Burdine's eccentricities was to name the 
trees about his home, in order that his servants, when sent 
out after the game that he- had killed, could easily locate 
the same. He was a ventriloquist and utilized his accom- 
plishment in a practical manner. He would imitate the 
call of wild animals so as to frighten the deer from their 
haunts, that they would come within range of his rifle. 
Baldridge, it is related, loaned a man three hundred dollars 
in quarters, taking the same out of a calico bag. When 
the borrower came to repay the money, Baldridge would 
accept no interest, saying, "If you had n't borrowed it, some 
rascal would have stolen it." 

The trials of the gentler sex in those days are tersely 
told in a letter written by one of them to her sister in Ken- 
tucky. She writes: "The men and dogs have a fine time, 
but we poor women have to suffer. We pack water from 
one-half to one mile for cooking and washing. My advice 
is, stay where you are. But if you see any one coming to 
this country, send a plank cradle for poor little Patrick. 



214 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

His poor little back is full of hard bumps, lying in a cradle 
George made out of a hollow log with a piece of wood on 
one end for a pillow. George and I attended a wedding last 
week. The preacher, a hard-shell Baptist, had on a long 
buckskin overcoat. The groom was in his shirt sleeves, 
with white cotton pants that came just below his knees, and 
white cotton socks and buckskin- slippers on his feet. The 
girl was dressed in a low-necked, short-waisted, short- 
sleeved white cotton dress that was monstrous short for a 
girl like her. She had on buckskin slippers and her hair 
was tied with a buckskin string which is all the go here. 
And when the preacher was spelling and reading the cere- 
mony from the book, the girl commenced sneezing and the 
buckskin string slipped off her hair, which fell all over her 
face, and everybody laughed."* 

Mrs. Dr. Young, of Warren County, owned the first 
piano brought to Northern Missouri. Women, carrying 
their babies and shoes, walked from all the adjacent coun- 
ties to see the wonderful instrument and to hear Mrs. 
Young's rendition of "The Campbells Are Coming," which 
she played with one hand. Anothsr family of Youngs was 
prominent in Audrain County. When one of the daughters 
was married, the ^heat for the cake and bread for the wed- 
ding supper was ground in a hand mill and bolted through 
her mother's muslin cape. 

Illustrative of the aversion of these early settlers to a 
resort to litigation and the tendency to submit matters of 
difference to the arbitrament of firearms, the following in- 
cident is told: Mr. P. and Colonel S. had a dispute about 
a mining claim. Said the latter, "Mr. P., we have been 
friends for a long time, and I regret that any misunderstand- 
ing should have arisen between us. Here we are entirely 
alone, and there is no one to interrupt us — let us settle this 
matter in an amicable way. You know my aversion to law 

* Pioneer Families of Missouri. 



■ SOCIAL AND BUSINESS LIFE. 215 

and lawyers, and iheir quibbles. 1 have here a couple of 
friends that have no mistake in them. Take your choice; 
they are both loaded and equally true." But Mr, P. thanked 
him and declined the proffered civility on account of hav- 
ing at hand important business which could aot be trans- 
acted by a ghost, whereupon the conversation was resumed 
as though there had been no interruption by what Colonel 
S. considered a friendly offer. 

The Catholics, as early as 1792. erected a church at 
St. Charles. In 1816, the Presbyterian Church was organ- 
ized, and several years later the Methodists built a house 
of worship in Northern Missouri. In 1807, it is said, Rev. 
Jesse Walker administered the first Methodist sacrament 
at Jacob Zumwalt's home, the first hewn log house erected, 
on the North side of the Missouri River. The wine; used 
on the occasion was made from pokeberries, sweetened 
with maple sugar; while the crusts of corn bread represented 
the broken body of the Savior.* 

The first steamboat to shove out a gang plank at St. 
Louis was the General Pike, Captain Jacob Reid, which 
landed at the foot of Market Street on August 2nd, 1817. 
The second was th-i Constitution, which arrived on the 2nd" 
of October following. The first steam vessel to stem the 
muddy current of the Missouri was the Independence, Cap- 
tain John Nelson, which, in 1819, steamed up that river as 
far as the town of Chariton, near the mouths of the streams 
of that name. Said the "St. Louis Enquirer" of June 9th, 
1819: "The passage of the steamboat Independence up the 
Missouri to Franklin and Chariton is an era in the history 
of that noble river, and has called forth the most lively feel- 
ing of joy and triumph all over the country." 

On July 12th, 1808, there appeared upon the scene a 
new factor — one that marked a long stride toward civiliza- 
tion. It was the establishment of a newspaper — the Mis- 

* Pioneer Families of Missouri. 



216 CLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

souri Gazette — the first issue of which, on a sheet no larger 
than a royal octavo page (8 by 12 inches), appeared on the 
above date, with Joseph Charless, official printer for the 
territory, as editor and owner. The office of publication 
was at St. Louis. The name was shortly changed to 
"The Louisiana Gazette,'' but on the organization of the 
Missouri Territory, the original name was restored. Later 
it became the "Missouri Republican." then the "St. Louir 
Republican,' and to-day it is known as "The Republic."* 

The first newspaper to be established West of St. Louis 
was the "Missouri Intelligencer," first issued from Frank- 
lin, Howard County, in 1819. by Nathaniel Patton. Sub- 
sequently it was moved to Columbia, and is now known as 
the "Missouri Statesman." 

The first book printed in Missouri was a compilation 
of the laws of the Territory, which came from the press of 

* The first number of the "Missouri Gazette" appeared on .Ju- 
ly 12th, 1808. The paper was issued weekly. On November 30th, 
the name was changed to "Louisiana Gazette." as more appropri- 
ate. Then on July l8th, 1812, the first name, "Missouri Gazette," 
was restored. On September 30th, 1820, Joseph Charless sold the 
"Gazette" to James C. Cummins, who, in 1822, transferred it to 
Edward Charless, son of its founder. With the issue of March 
20th, 1822, the name of the journal was changed to "Missouri Re- 
publican" and it advocated the prmciples of that political party — 
now known as the Democratic. When the Whigs became one of 
the leading political parties, the "Republican" cast its lot with them, 
but when that party ceased to exist, in 1856, the paper espoused 
the cause of the Democrats, with which party it has since affiliated. 
In 1833, the "Republican" was changed to a semi-weekly; in April, 
1835, it appeared as a tri-weekly; and since September, 1836, it has 
been issued daily. About 1891, the present name— "The Repub- 
lic"— was adopted. In May, I8i5, appeared the first number of an 
opposition paper in St. Louis — the "Western Journal." Having 
proven a financial failure, on May I7th, I8l7, it was issued under a 
new management and a new name — -'Western Emigrant,"— but 
with no better success. Thomas Hart Benton became its editor in 
I8t9 and the name was again changed to "St. Louis Enquirer." 



SOCIAL AND BUSINESS LIFE. 217 

Mr. Charless in 1808. shortly after he had established his 
printing plant in St. Louis. It contained three hundred and 
seventy-two pages, embracing all the laws enacted in and 
for the Territory prior to the date of printing, and was certi- 
fied to by Frederick Bates, Secretary. 

Th« first post office at St. Louis was established in 
1808, with Colonel Rufus Easton, postmasttfr. Mails came 
from Vincennes, Indiana, to Caholcia. thence to St. Louis. 
From New York and Philadelphia, the mails required about 
six weeks, and from Europe, three months. On January 
25th. 1809, the Gazette complains bitterly because no mails 
had come from the East for more than two months. "Ex- 
cessively cold, and no thermometer in the place to record 
the degree." Mails came from Cahokia once each week, 
from Mine la Burton and Ste, Genevieve once in two 
weeks, and from St. Charles once each week. 

The first bank in Missouri, the "Bank of St. Louis," 
was Incorporated on August 21st, 1813, but did not open 
for business until December 12th, 1816. Capital stock, 
$100,000. This bank suspended in 1818, reopened March 
3rd. 1819, and went out of business on July 24th following. 
The "Bank of Missouri" began business on September 30th, 
1816, with a capital of $250,000. 

In the Louisiana Gazette dated May 1st, 1809, ap- 
peared the following: "What citizen is there, who is in the 
smallest degree alive to the prosperity of our happy country, 
who does not feel indignant at the gross falsehoods and ig- 
norant philippics published against the Jefferson administra- 
tion, concerning the purchase of Louisiana? We would 
recommend these incendiary editors to the study of geog- 
raphy, and they will discover that Louisiana possesses a soil 
equal to any other State or Territory in the Union; rich in 
Hilnerals, numerous navigable rivers and many other advan- 
tages, place this desirable country far above the calumny 
of the miserable scribblers. Give us industrious planters. 



218 CLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

and in a short period Louisiana will become the bright star 
in the Federal constellation." Prophetic words, these — 
and loyal! 

The following incident, pregnant of the poverty and the 
primitiveness of the settlers during the territorial days, is 
given on the authority of Judge Fagg, a prominent citizen 
of Pike county: 

One of the earliest settlers in Pike County was John ■ 
Mackey. who erected his cabin near the line of bluffs which 
mark the Western boundary of Calumet Creek Valley. It 
was of the usual pioneer style — unhewn logs and puncheon 
floor. There was one room below, and a loft above where 
the older children slept. On the afternoon of a bitterly 
cold day in 1821, an itinerant preacher rode into the little 
settlement that had sprung up about the Mackey cabin. 
Notwithstanding the inclemency of the evening. Aunt Nan- 
cy Mackey, devout and hospitable, induced the itinerant to 
preach at her cabin that night. Couriers went through the 
snowstorm to the neighbors, and a goodly number trailed- 
through the drifts to the appointed place. The storm had 
driven a score or more of hogs beneath the cabin for shel- 
ter, and when the preacher arose, to announce his text, the 
porkers, in their individual efforts to secure a warm berth 
near the great fireplace, set up such a squealing that the 
efforts of the preacher to make himself heard were unavail- 
ing. Presently some degree of quiet obtained and the ser- 
vices began. But a little later, however, a gust of wind 
blew open the door which some late comer had not secure- 
ly fastened, and in strode an old sow with a nonchalance 
that indicated perfect familiarity with the room. The small 
boy of the family gave her a welcoming shout, and, jump- 
ing astride her back, with one of her ears grasped in each 
hand, rode the squealing animal round the room, much to 
the consternation of the female portion of the audience. 
After several circuits of the room, the boy and his steed 



SOCIAL AND BUSINESS LIFE. 218 

passed out the door, But not yet were the interruptions 
over. A flock of geese had, in the meantime, walked in at 
the open door, and, keeping up a loud hissing and chatter- 
ing, refused to withdraw. But Aunt Nancy was equal to 
the occasion. Taking an ear of corn from the jamb, she 
walked backwards through the open door, shelling the corn 
and coaxing the fowls in her most persuasive tones. The 
flock once outside, the door was closed, and the interrupted 
discourse concluded. It is said that these occurrences 
were accepted as a matter unavoidable. The audience 
was patient and the equanimity of the preacher undisturbed, 
while Aunt Nancy folded her arms as complacently as if 
such annoyances were not out of the usual routine. 



220 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 



POLITICAL AFFAIRS. 




N ACT of Congress, approved on June 4th, 18!2, 
changed the nanne of the Territory of Louisiana 
to "Territory of Missouri," and advanced it to 
the second grade of government. On the first 
of October, five districts or counties were organized, viz., 
St. Charles, St. Louis, Ste. Genevieve, Cape Girardeau, 
and New Madrid. The district of Arkansas formed a por- 
tion of New Madrid County. During the same month Ed- 
ward Hempstead was elected delegate to Congress. The 
first House of Representatives for the Territory convened 
on December 7th, 1812, with thirteen members. Wil- 
liam C. Carr was elected Speaker. As members of the 
Territorial Council, President Jefferson selected nine men 
out of eighteen nominated by the Legislature. 

In 1813. a portion of Ste. Genevieve County was set 
off as a new county, to which the name of Washington was 
given. An enumeration of the white male inhabttants of 
the Territory was taken the next year, with the following 
result: Arkansas, 827; New Madrid, 1548; Cape Girardeau, 
2062; Ste. Genevieve, 1701; Washington, 1010; St. Louis, 
3149; St. Charles, 1096,— total, 11.393. The population 
at this time was estimated at 25,000. By the census of 
1810. it vas fonnd to be 20,845. 

At the second session of the General Assembly, held 
in 1814. the County of Lawrence was formed from the 



POLITICAL AFFAIRS. 221 

Western part of Mew Madrid. In 1816 and 18(7, several 
lotteries were chartered, the school system of St. Louis in- 
stituted, two banks chartered, and the counties of Jefferson, 
Franklin, Wayne, Lincoln, Madison, Montgomery, Cooper, 
Pike, and three in the Southern part of Arkansas were or- 
ganized. Arkansas, in 1819, was formed into a separate 
territory. The author of Peck's Annals states that early in 
1818 he counted seven stores and houses of brick in St. 
Louis. The first brick dwelling-house erected in that city 
was one built by William C. Carr in 1813. The population 
of the town in 1815 was found to be 2000. 

In 1820, the census taken by the United States gov- 
ernment found the population of Missouri Territory to be 
66,586. In that and the ensuing year, the following coun- 
ties were organized: LlUard (now Lafayette), Ralls. Boone, 
Chariton, Ray, Cole, Saline, Gasconade, Callaway, Scott, 
St. Francois, Perry, and Clay. The organization of these 
new counties is an index to the rapid increase in the pop- 
ulation of the Territory. 

The incoming tide of immigration soon encroached 
upon the Indian preserves. As the white and the red man 
could not live in peace in the same locality, it became nec- 
essary to remove the latter farther Westward. Hence in 
1808, Pierre Chouteau negotiated a treaty with the Osages 
by which it was agreed that the boundary between their 
lands and those of the pale faces should begin at Fort 
Clark, a post upon the Missouri, thirty-five miles below the 
mouth of the Kaw, and extend due South to the Arkansas, 
thence down that stream to the Mississippi. The Osages 
relinquished all claims to the lands East of this line. By 
similar treaties, the Sacs and Foxes, after considerable de- 
lay and trouble, were induced to cede the lands they held 
North of the Missouri River. The last of these treaties 
was concluded at Portage des Sioux, a village situated a 
few miles North of the mouth of the Missouri, in 1815. 



222 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

Thereafter Indian depredations in the Territory of Missouri 
practically ceased. 

Following the influx of settlers from the Atlantic states, 
speculation became rife. Lands and town lots were bought 
on credit; live stock and merchandise were settled for by 
notes of hand; and every settler expected to amass a small 
fortune from those who came after. But the stringency of 
the Eastern money market about 1819 greatly retarded liq- 
uidation, money became scarce, and many were forced into 
hopeless bankruptcy. Farm products were abundant, but 
were unsalable; so. too, was real estate. There was prac- 
tically no circulating medium. The general government 
and the territorial legislature came to the relief of the 
people. Some of the lands held by the settlers were relin- 
quished to the government, and two hundred thousand dol- 
lars' worth of certificates, predicated upon the credit of the 
State, were issued. These passed in lieu of bank notes. 

The following persons were governors of Missouri du- 
ring the territorial period. The date when each assumed 
the duties of the office is also given: 

Amos Stoddard— March 10th, 1804. 

William Henry Harrison— March 26th, 1804. 

James Wilkinson — March 3rd, 1805. 

Meriwether Lewis — 1807. 

Benjamin Howard— October 11th, 1809. 

William Clark— October — , 1810. 



THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE. 223 




THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE. 

T THE TIME of the purchase of Louisiana, the 
population of Missouri was confined to a few 
thousand souls who lived in the old French set- 
tlements close to the West bank of the Missis- 
sippi. They were Creoles from Louisiana; Frenchmen and 
Spaniards from the Old World; half-breed Frenchmen from 
Canada; uoyageurs and coureurs des bois, and negroes brought 
from every kraal on the coast of Congo and of Guinea. 
But in the Westward march of population down the Eastern 
slope of the Mississippi Valley, a small contingent began to 

enter Missouri at an early day These people 

then occupied a strip of country twenty miles wide along 
the Mississippi, from the Arkansas to a point some miles 
North of the mouth of the Missouri. A few hundred were 
engaged at "the diggings," or lead mines, and had scat- 
tered their cabins along the Big River, Terre Bleu, and the 
Mineral branch, in the heart of the county of Ste. Gene- 
vieve. Some lived by agriculture, and were already push- 
ing their farms and settlements up the Missouri. Others — 
and they were chiefly in St. Louis — carried on an extensive 
trade with the Indians; while still others — as the inhabitants 
of St. Charles — were renowned as Mississippi boatmen. 
With the opening of the war with England the tide of emi- 
gration diminished in volume. But when the hard times. 



224 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

which came with the return of peace, began to drive people 
Westward by hundreds of thousands, the stream that poured 
into Missouri was enormous. As a Territory where slavery 
was permitted, it became a promised land for every slave- 
owning emigrant from Virginia and North Carolina, Ken- 
tucky and Tennessee, and thither they went." 

The foregoing paragraph from McMaster's History 
(IV, 570-571) admirably epitomizes the conditions in Mis- 
souri about the close of the Territorial period. It is esti- 
mated that in three years' time, the population of the Ter- 
ritory had doubled. Nothing less than the kind of local 
government under which they had lived in their old homes 
beyond the Mississippi would satisfy the people. The ad- 
mission into the Union of Indiana in 1816. and of Illinois 
in 1818, emphasized and strengthened this desire. In the 
latter part of 1817. petitions were presented to Congress, 
asking leave to form a State government and come into 
the Union. In 1818, there came a petition from the Ter- 
ritorial Legislature, and it was referred to a select commit- 
tee of which John Scott, the Missouri delegate, j^as chair- 
man. A bill embodying the substance of the petition was 
framed, read twice, and sent to the Committee of the V/hole, 
where it was on adjournment for the summer. In Novem- 
ber, a second petition came from the Legislature. After 
the usual routine, a bill to enable the people of Missouri to 
form a State constitution was, on February 13th, 1819, 
taken up in the Committee of the Whole. Scarcely had the 
discussion opened when James Tallmadge, of New York, 
moved an amendment asking (1) that the further introduc- 
tion of slaves into Missouri be forbidden, and (2) that al' 
children born after the admission of Missouri should be free 
in the proposed Str.te, but might be held to service until 
twenty-five years of age. This motion precipitated one of 
the most acrimonious discussions in the annals of our Con- 
gress. The issue between the free-soil party and the advo- 



THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE. 225 

cates of slavery was joined. Both in and out of Congress, 
party leaders, newspapers, and voters were drawn into the 
Maelstrom until the entire citizenship became aligned in 
the contending factions. It was the beginning of that Ti- 
tanic struggle for political supremacy which, forty-three 
years later, culminated in one of the mightiest and most 
sanguinary conflicts of modern times. 

Those who opposed the amendment said that such a 
restriction is unconstitutional, unwise, and not possible to 
carry out. Congress has no power to lay such a restriction 
on any State as a condition of its admission. Then the 
treaty of purchase pledged the formation of Louisiana into 
States and the admission of them on the same footing as 
other States. This would not be the case should Missouri 
be forced to abolish slavery before admission. Besides, the 
citizens of each State are entitled to all the rights, privi- 
leges and inimunities of citizens of the several States. 
These and many other objections were urged in opposition 
to the Tallmadge amendment (McMaster). 

But such arguments were of little weight. In the 
Committee the amendment was agreed to by a vote of sev- 
enty-nine to sixty-seven. The amended bill was reported 
to the House, and that body, by a decisive vote of ninety- 
seven to forty-six, ordered it to be engrossed and read a 
third time. Six of the nays came from States North of 
the Mason and Dixon line. In the Senate, the Tallmadge 
amendment was promptly stricken out and the bill passed 
on the first day of March. The House refused to concur, 
and sent the bill back. But the Senate voted to adhere to 
the original form and returned the measure, but the House 
again refused to concur, hence the bill was lost. So ended 
the first battle in Congress. 

In the meantime, exactly similar tactics had been em- 
ployed in an effort to defeat a bill creating the Territory of 
Arkansas, but in this contest the pro-slavery advocates were 



226 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

finally successful, and the Territory was organized without 
restrictions in the matter of slave-holding. 

The agitation over the admission of Missouri aroused 
the anti-slavery cohorts throughout the Northern States. 
Prior to this time the question lay dormant. Only one anti- 
slavery newspaper existed, and everywhere languished the 
organizations antagonistic to the extension of slavery. But 
now the question became the dominant and burning issue 
in both the North and the South. Everywhere public 
meetings were held, and Senators and Representatives in 
Congress were overwhelmed with resolutions and requests 
from their constituents. The question of the admission of 
Missouri overshadowed all others. 

When Congress reassembled in the fall of 1819, among 
the first bills introduced was one providing for the admis- 
sion of Maine as a State. Henry Clay, Speaker of the 
House, took the floor in opposition to this bill. Said he: 
"A State in the quarter of the country from which 1 come, 
asks to be admitted into the Union. What say the gentle- 
men who ask for the admission of Maine? Why, they will 
not admit Missouri without a condition which strips her of 
one essential attribute of sovereignty. What, then, do 'I 
say to them? That justice is due to all parts of the Union. 
Equality is equality, and if it is right to make the restric- 
tion of slavery the condition for the admission of Missouri, 
it is equally just to make the admission of Missouri the 
condition for that of Maine." 

But the House passed the bill admitting Maine, and in 
the Senate it was amended by simply affixing to it (by 
means of wafers), as an amendment, the bill for the admis- 
sion of Missouri. The debate there was long and bitter. 
The Senate, by a vote of twenty-five to eighteen, refused 
to separate the bills. Then the amendment prohibiting the 
farther introduction of slavery into Missouri was proposed, 
and again the matter was argued. There is no need to re- 



THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE. 227 

produce here even a synopsis of the arguments, pro and con. 
Nothing new was injected into the debate. The great 
speeches for and against the measure were made, respect- 
ively, by William Pinckney, of Maryland, and Rufus King, 
of New York. The amendment was defeated. Then Sen- 
ator Thomas, of Illinois, proposed that in the tract of coun- 
try known as Louisiana, excepting that part thereof included 
in the proposed State of Missouri, there should be no slav- 
ery. This amendment he subsequently withdrew, but after 
a number of others had been rejected, he again introduced 
it. In this shape the bill, on February 17th, 1820. was 
passed by the decisive vote of thirty-four to ten. 

The House, having in the meantime passed the Maine 
bill, and taken up a Missouri bill of its own, refused to concur. 
Finally the matter was sent to conference.* Before the 
latter reported, the House passed the Missouri bill with an 
amendment prohibiting slavery, but the Senate promptly 
returned it with the Thomas amendment tacked on. Then 
the conference reported, recommending three things: (1) 
that the Senate should separate the Maine and the Mis- 
souri bills, and that the first should be admitted; (2) that 
the House should no longer insist upon the exclusion of 
slavery from Missouri; and (3) that the House should agree 
to adopt the Senate bill which admitted slavery in Missouri, 
but excluded it from the remainder of the Purchase North 
of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes. Three Represen- 
tatives stayed away, four changed their votes, and the result 
was (March 2nd, 1820.) ninety to eighty-seven in favor of 
the compromise report. 

On the following morning, while the bill was yet in the 
possession of the Speaker. John Randolph arose and ex- 

*0n February Sth, 1820, Henry Clay spoke for tour hours 
against the right and expediency of the proposed restriction, mak- 
ing, it is claimed, one of the most eloquent and masterful deliver- 
ies of his career. Unfortunately, it w.is not reported. 



228 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

pressed a wish to move for a reconsideration of the meas- 
ure. The Speaker, greatly alarmed, resorted to dilatory 
tactics, declared the gentleman out of order, permitted him 
to appeal to the House — which sustained the Speaker, — 
and, in the meantime, hurriedly affixed his signature to the 
bill and sent it to the Senate. Then, when the proper time 
for such motions came. Clay announced that the bill was 
no longer in the possession of the House. For this bit of 
trickery, Randolph never forgave him. Thenceforth they 
were mortal foes. 

On the passage of the Missouri compromise bill, a wave 
of rage and disappointment swept over the Northern States. 
Those Congressmen from that section who voted for the 
bill on its final passage, were burned in effigy and suffered 
other indignities. President Monroe, before signing the 
measure, submitted the question of its constitutionality to 
his cabinet. What he wanted to know was whether or not, 
in their opinion, the restriction applied only to the territo- 
ries, or to such States as might be framed therefrom. 
Three of them held that it applied only to the territorial 
condition, while Adams (J. Q.) held that it applied to the 
State as well. Thereupon the bill ^as signed, and thus 
ended the second great battle. 

It was believed that with the approval by the President 
of the Maine and the Missouri bills would end the long and 
bitter controversy, but a third struggle, more acrimonious 
than either of its predecessors, was yet to convulse the nation. 

This long contention over the admission of Missouri 
was a struggle for political supremacy. Both factions were 
striving to hold the balance of power in the National Leg- 
islature. It has been seen that the free-soil party was the 
stronger in the House, while the advocates of slavery had 
control of the Senate, Alabama, in 1819, came in as a 
slave state, hence the free-soilers opposed the immediate 
admission of a second slave state. Fortunately, the appli- 



THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE. 229 

cation of Maine for admission to statehood gave the oppor- 
tunity for a compromise, thus happily ending the struggle 
which convulsed the whole nation and even threatened the 
stability of the Union itself, it should be borne in mind 
that the contention was not over the introduction of slavery 
into the territory, but the abolition of that which already 
existed. 

These proceedings constitute the "Missouri Compro- 
mise. ' By it the representatives of the North succeeded 
virtually in abolishing slavery from that portion of the Louis- 
iana Purchase North of the South boundary of Missouri — 
excepting that commonwealth Itself. But their victory 
came to naught. In 1836, it was violated without protest 
by the addition of the Platte Purchase to Missouri; in 1854, 
it was formally abrogated; and in 1857, it was declared un- 
constitutional by the highest legal tribunal in the Union. 



230 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 



MISSOURI BECOMES A STATE. 




HE VOTERS of the fifteen counties comprising 
the Territory of Missouri held an election on the 
first Monday, and the two succeeding days of 
May, 1820, to choose representatives to a State 
Convention, which convened at St. Louis, then the seat of 
government, on Monday, June 12th. On the day set. forty- 
one delegates met at the Mansion House, corner of Third 
and Vine Streets, in St. Louis. David Barton was elected 
President of the Convention. Among the members were 
several whose name are eminent in the annals of our State 
— Alexander Buckner, William Lillard, Nathan Boone, 
John Scott, Edward Bates, Alexander McNair, William 
Rector, and Thomas F. Riddick. On the 19th of July, the 
representatives concluded their labors by signing the con- 
.stitution which they had formed. The said constitution 
took effect from the authority of the body that framed it, 
without any submission to the voters; and it is worthy of 
record that this instrument stood without material amend- 
ment until the adoption of the Drake Constitution in 1865. 
But the framers of the new constitution had inserted a 
clause which forbade the Legislature passing a law emanci- 
pating the slaves in the State without the consent of their 
masters; and another which read thus: 

"It shall be their duty, as soon as may be, to pass such 
laws as may be necessary to prevent free negroes and mu- 



MISSOURI BECOMES A STATE. 231 

lattoes from coming to, and settling in, this State, under 
any pretext whatever." 

In view of the narrow margin on which the "Missouri 
Compromise" had passed the two branches of Congress, It 
would have seemed the part of wisdom had the Convention 
been content with the mere establishing of slavery; but its 
members saw fit to insert these two clauses, which, when a 
copy of the Constitution was presented in Congress, precip- 
itated the third great battle over the ad nission of Missouri. 
Attention was called to the fact that the Federal Constitu- 
tion guarantees to all citizens equal privileges and immu- 
nities in dll the States; that In many States negroes were 
free and citizens; that to exclude them from Missouri was 
a violation of such Constitution. A demand that Missouri 
should not be admitted until this discrimination was struck 
from her Constitution was made. In reply, it was pointed 
out that in several States there were certain restrictions. 
In Maryland no Jew could vote; in Massachusetts no black 
could marry a white; in Connecticut no free negro could 
travel without a pass from the select-men or the justices. 
By a vote of ninety-three, to seventy-nine, the House re- 
jected the resolution declaring Missouri a State. Memo- 
rials from Missouri were presented to the House, and a 
great uproar was caused by an effort to insert the words, 
"the State of," before "Missouri" in the record. Then it 
was moved that the words, "the Territory of." be inserted, 
then, "the late Territory of," but each failed, and the House 
adjourned in confusion. 

After a lull of two weeks, the Senate sent in a proposi- 
tion to admit Missouri as a State, "provided nothing herein 
contained shall be so construed as to give the assent of 
Congress to any provision in the Constitution of the State 
of Mssouri (if any such there be) which contravenes that 
clause of the Constitution of the United States which de- 
clares that the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all 



232 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

the privileges and immunities of the citizens of the several 
States." By a vote of seventy-nine to eighty-eight, the 
House rejected this resolution. Then Clay succeeded in 
carrying a motion that the question be referred to a com- 
mittee of thirteen (February 2nd, 1821). This committee 
agreed upon a compromise, but it was defeated in the 
House by three votes. 

Anon came the day for counting the electoral votes. 
Was Missouri a State? Should her electoral votes be 
counted? These questions were far from settlement, but as 
the result would be the same whether or not they were 
counted, it was agreed that the President of the Senate 
should announce that were these votes counted, A. B. 

would have votes for President; if not counted, A. B. 

would have votes for President; in either case A. B. 

is elected President. But as the President of the Senate 
was about to do this, some member called out. "I object 
to receiving any votes for President and Vice President 
from Missouri, because Missouri is not a State in this 
Union.' Amid great confusion, the Senate withdrew, leav- 
ing the House to wrangle as it pleased. Later, word was 
sent to the Senate to return, when about the same scene 
was re-enacted, but after much confusion, the program as 
agreed upon was carried out, and Monroe and Tompkins 
were thereupon declared elected President and Vice Pres- 
ident, respectively. 

On the next day (February 15th), another ineffectual 
attempt was made by the House to adrnit Missouri on con- 
dition that the objectionable clause be expunged from her 
constitution. A week later an attempt was made to repeal 
the enabling act — the compromise by which it was agreed 
that Missouri should be admitted. This alarmed Clay, who 
came forward with a proposition to lay the matter before a 
committee of twenty-three. This was on February 22nd. 
and two days later the Senate appointed a committee of 



MISSOURI BECOMES A STATE. 233 

seven to confer with the House committee. On the 26th, 
this committee reported the following resolution: 

"That Missouri shall be admitted into the Union on an 
equal footing with the original States, in all respects what- 
ever, upon the fundamental condition that the fourth clause 
of the twenty-sixth section of the third article of the Con- 
stitution submitted on the part of the said State to Con- 
gress, shall never be construed to authorize the passage of 
any law, and that no law shall be passed in conformity 
thereto, by which any citizen of either of the States of this 
Union shall be excluded from the enjoyment of any of the 
privileges and immunities to which such citizen is entitled 
under the Constitution of the United States: Provided, that 
the Legislature of the said State, by a solemn public act, 
shall declare the assent of the said State to the said funda- 
mental condition, and shall transmit to the President of the 
United States, on or before the fourth Monday in Novem- 
ber next, an authentic copy of this said act; whereupon, and 
without any further proceedings on the part of Congress, 
the admission of the said State into the Union shall be 
considered as complete." 

After a brief debate, the House adopted this resolution 
—yeas eighty-six, nays eighty-two. In the Senate, after 
several unsuccessful attempts to amend it, the resolution 
passed on the 28th of February by a vote of twenty-eight 
to fourteen. Thus ended the third great forensic battle 
over the admission of Missouri. 

Several writers have called attention to the curious 
fact that as printed in the Missouri laws, the fourth clause 
of the twenty-sixth section of the third article of the State 
Constitution does not coincide with the clause quoted above. 
This apparent discrepancy is explained by the fact that the 
proposed constitution was transmitted to Congress. in manu- 
script, and as printed for the use of the members, was par- 
agraphed altogether differently from the printing by the State, 



234 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

and that as printed by the government for the use of Con- 
gress, the fourth clause of the twenty-sixth section of the 
third article read as quoted above. As printed in Missouri, 
it is the first clause of the third division of the said twenty- 
sixth section. This explanation of the seeming discrepancy 
is simple and plausible. 

On the 4th of June, 1821, the Missouri Legislature 
was convened in special session, and on the 26th of the 
same month adopted a solemn act, in conformity to the 
requirements of Congress. In the preamble of this act it 
most solemnly declared that the Congress of the United 
States has no constitutional right or power to affix any con- 
dition to the admission of Missouri into the Federal Union, 
and that the Legislature had no power to change the opera- 
tion of the Constitution of Missouri. Yet following this re- 
markable and defiant preamble (in which the Supreme 
Court of the United States, in 1857. substantially con- 
curred) was the solemn resolution required by Congress as 
a completion of the admission of the State. Without de- 
lay a copy of the act was transmitted to President Monroe, 
who, on the 10th day of August, 1821, declared the process 
of admission to be complete, and from that day our com- 
monwealth took rank as the twenty-fourth member of the 
American Union. 

The boundaries of the new State, as prescribed by 
Congress, were as follows: "Beginning in ihe middle of the 
Mississippi River, on the parallel of thirty-six degrees of 
North latitude; thence West along that parallel of latitude 
to the St. Francois River; thence up and following the 
course of that river, in the middle of the main channel 
thereof, to the parallel of latitude of thirty-six degrees and 
thirty minutes; thence West along the same to a point 
where said parallel is intersected by a meridian line passing 
through the middle of the mouth of the Kansas River, 
where the same empties into the Missouri River; thence 



MISSOURI BECOMES A STATE. 235 

from the point aforesaid, North, along the said meridian 
line, to the intersection of the parallel of latitude which 
passes through the rapids of the river Des Moines, making 
the same line to correspond with the Indian boundary line; 
thence East from the point of intersection last aforesaid, 
along the said parallel of latitude, to the middle of the chan- 
nel of the main fork of the said river Des Moines, to the 
mouth of the same, where it empties into the Mississippi 
River; thence down and following the course of said river, 
in the middle of the main channel thereof, to the place 
of beginning." 

A dispute at once arose with the Territory of Iowa as 
to whether was meant certain rapids in the Des Moines 
River, some distance above its mouth, or the rapids in the 
Mississippi, some twenty or thirty miles farther South, 
called by the French, La Rapides la Riviere Des Moines. 
The Supreme Court of the United States decided in favor 
of the French application of the term and the old boundary. 

It has been a matter of speculation as to why Pemis- 
cot County, and those portions of Dunklin and New Mad- 
rid which extend South of the general boundary of the State, 
into Arkansas, were included in Missouri, The usual fa- 
cetious reply is that the people in these counties "did n't 
want to live in Arkansas because it is unhealthful." A 
writer who has made some investigation in the matter says 
that in 1804 Louisiana was divided into two territories by a 
line running along the thirty-third parallel of latitude. Then 
in 1812, the Territory of Missouri was organized, and in 
1819. that of Arkansas. At the time of the organization 
of the latter Territory, the people in the section now com- 
prising these three counties were bound to their up-river 
neighbors by ties both social and commercial, and an ap- 
peal was made for inclusion with them in the Territory of 
Missouri. Prominent among those who conducted the ne- 
gotiations was Colonel John Hardman Walker, who owned 



236 GLEANINGS IN MISSOURI HISTORY. 

extensive tracts of lands in these counties. He "wined and 
dined the surveyors,'' and afterward, in company with God- 
frey Lesieur and several other prominent citizens of that 
vicinity, visited Washington and laid the matter before Con- 
gress. Th-iir efforts met with success, and this cotton- 
growing district down to the thirty-sixth parallel and as far 
West as the St. Francois River, was included in Missouri. 



THE END. 



LB N 05 ^ 

c ^ 



